Tyler Perry Fired His Accountants After Learning The IRS Owed Him $9 Million: I Didn’t Go To College, But I Paid For Harvard Many Times Over In The Mistakes That I Made

Tyler Perry

Tyler Perry Fired His Accountants After Learning The IRS Owed Him $9 Million: I Didn’t Go To College, But I Paid For Harvard Many Times Over In The Mistakes That I Made

Tyler Perry’s previous run-in with the IRS cost the agency $9 million but taught him a valuable lesson. 

As a panelist at Earn Your Leisure’s 2022 Invest Fest in Atlanta, the filmmaker shared with thousands of audience members how he became the wildly successful businessman he is today. In addition, the Forbes-listed billionaire talked about some of the financial challenges he faced along the way with his newfound wealth.

“Money isn’t something that I had, and nobody taught me that taxes had to be paid. [I] didn’t go to college, but I paid for Harvard many times over in the mistakes that I made.”  

The most interesting tale he shared was about a previous Internal Revenue Service (IRS) audit. In addition to the pressure associated with such a review, the actor/director said the agent assigned to the case acted unprofessionally. Tyler Perry was eventually pushed to report the agent for improper behavior. Although the agent was fired and replaced, the investigation continued.   

Tyler Perry

Tyler Perry, who has made more than $660 million off the Madea franchise alone, revealed,

“So, this audit went on for three years. I’m spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in accounting with accountants for the audit and I am getting so mad, and so frustrated. 

Thankfully, by the end of the probe, Tyler was the one who came out on top. 

“We get to the end of the audit and they, the IRS, owed me $9 million.”

The accountants he’d hired to work diligently (who had also racked up money in billable hours) were ecstatic. He said they cheered and asked him, “isn’t this great.”

To which he responded,

“I said ‘hell naw! How did you miss me paying $9 million?'”

The Jazzman’s Blues producer then seemingly joked, 

“I had to stop going to H&R block for my taxes at some point.”

The 53-year-old, who began his career in the 1990s writing, directing, and producing stageplays before moving into film and television, explained what he learned from the experience. 

“I learned in progress and it’s okay.”

After sharing the story, he offered the more than 14,000 attendees this advice, 

“Listen to me: In business, it’s okay to make mistakes. It’s okay to learn. You have to learn, but don’t let it keep happening over and over again. That’s one thing about me. I’ll let you make a million mistakes, but you can’t do the same thing over and over again.”

Tyler added,

“That’s how I run my business. Here’s the mistake. Let’s fix it [then] let’s move forward.”

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 What do you think about Tyler Perry’s IRS experience and his advice? Tell us in the comments below. 

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