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R. Kelly Trapped Himself in $5 Million Tax Debt

R. Kelly / Photo by Ray Mickshaw/FOX via Getty

When you’re as rich as R. Kelly (and even when you’re not), the IRS really doesn’t give a damn what closet you might be trapped in, or how many times you’ve been trapped there — it’s gotta get paid. TMZ and the Chicago Sun-Times are reporting that Kelly has done a terrible job keeping up with his taxes, and now owes the government nearly $5 million from 2005 to 2010.

Though the single singer‘s spokesman Allan Mayer told the Sun-Times last year that Kelly didn’t have any financial troubles, he must not have checked with the Cook County Recorder of Deeds, which has him as owing $1,472,366.77 from 2005’s return, $710,520.51 from 2006’s, $376,180.11 from 2007’s, $1,122,694.90 from 2008’s, $173,815.18 from 2009’s, and $992,495.24 from 2010’s, totaling $4,848,072.71 in back taxes. It’s pretty bad, especially considering that he’s already paid off $2.6 million in back taxes, in 2008, and over $1 million last year, in addition to the foreclosure of his Illinois mansion because he failed to pay more than $2.9 million on its J.P. Morgan Chase mortgage.

“R. Kelly is in the process of working everything out with the government and is confident that all his obligations will be satisfied,” his rep told TMZ.

Write Me Back, the follow-up to Kelly’s 2010 Love Letter, which earned him two Grammy nominations, is due June 26 and probably has a lot more riding on its success now.