DSP's Tax Situation - An estimation of what he's looking at

[James Smith]

The IRS charges a penalty of 0.5% per month (0.25% if on a payment plan) capped at 25% of what is owed for failure to pay tax on time for reported income (i.e. the taxpayer filed a return and declared the taxable income.) The IRS may waive this penalty for taxpayers who haven't had penalties during the previous 3 years, filed their return, and made an arrangement to pay the tax due. DSP will probably be able to get this waived, otherwise he should owe a penalty of $340 if he pays 100% of his taxes due on April 16 (the day after it's due) and increasing from then on to a maximum of $1000.

The IRS charges a penalty for failure to pay estimated taxes equal to the effective interest rate of the estimated payment's quarter and applied per year it remains unpaid. This is in addition to the interest described in the next paragraph. Taxpayers essentially pay double interest if they fail to make estimated payments unless they pay 85% or more of their tax due by April 15. I don't think the IRS waives this penalty. According to form 2210 DSP should owe a penalty of $555.60 if he pays 100% of his taxes due on April 16 (the day after it's due) and increasing from then on with no maximum.

The IRS offers a 72 month installment plan for taxpayers with balances due between $10K and $25K. The minimum payment is the balance owed divided by 72. The IRS begins calculating interest when individual estimated payments were due if the taxpayer did not make one or more estimated payments and compounds it daily. The IRS applies it to both the unpaid tax and unpaid penalties. The IRS calculates interest rates every three months. The interest rates for 2018 and 2019 so far follow:

• Q2 2018: 5%
• Q3 2018: 5%
• Q4 2018: 5%
• Q1 2018: 6%

The IRS applies payments to the tax due, the penalties due, then to the interest due in that order.

Assuming DSP can get the first penalty waived:
If DSP is put on a 72 month payment plan and takes 72 months to pay off what he owes he will need to either make minimum payments and a balloon payment the final month of about $8K or pay about $334 per month. If he makes minimum payments he'll accrue about $5K in penalties and interest. If he pays $334 per month he'll accrue over $4K in penalties and interest.

Assuming DSP cannot get the first penalty waived:
If DSP is put on a 72 month payment plan and takes 72 months to pay off what he owes he will need to either make minimum payments and a balloon payment the final month of about $10K or pay about $354 per month. Regardless of which method he uses he'll pay about $5K in penalties and interest.

This is all dependent on my understanding of tax law and math being correct.

EDIT:

DSP keeps talking about this phantom "affordable" / "good" IRS payment plan he can get if he just raises $5K by April 15. I re-ran the numbers assuming he uses $1K of that to pay his accountant and $4K to pay his taxes. Assuming he can't get the failure to pay penalty waived these are the numbers:

• Minimum payment: $166.68
• Balloon payment after 72 months: approximately $7300
• Minimum payment to pay off within 72 months without balloon payment: approximately $263

If he can get the penalty waived it reduces it by a fairly negligible amount.

I think it's more likely this hoped-for $5K is really to pay his accountant and estimated taxes for the first quarter of 2019.

 

[Terminus Est]

I know of DSP and his antics. But how the fuck did he get himself into this situation?

 

[Clop]

Pardon, I've been off this shitty carousel for quite a while now; Has any proof actually arrived that DSP has ever been in trouble with taxes? In my mind it's always been his scam to get pity bucks.

 

[Hungrymandinner]

Pardon, I've been off this shitty carousel for quite a while now; Has any proof actually arrived that DSP has ever been in trouble with taxes? In my mind it's always been his scam to get pity bucks.

No proof whatsoever. Phil has 2 homes, a new car, all the latest video games, and makes $100k+ annually. He’s doing more than fine.

 

[Salubrious]

What would actually make DSP a worse person?

If he actually was $17K short on his taxes even after all the begging and E7 money OR if he wasn't short of money and was just scamming for pity bucks?

I would think the latter, but I keep looking at the former as him already having blown the generosity of his audience knowing that they would bail him out again.

 

[Freshtodeath]

So his minimum monthly payment is over 300 dollars? That sucks haha. That is 300 dollars he would probably rather spend on his cc debt.

 

[Kheapathic]

What would actually make DSP a worse person?

If he actually was $17K short on his taxes even after all the begging and E7 money OR if he wasn't short of money and was just scamming for pity bucks?

I would think the latter, but I keep looking at the former as him already having blown the generosity of his audience knowing that they would bail him out again.

With the former, there's nothing new. All available data suggests Phil is horrible at managing money if not scamming.

With the latter, he's being intentionally deceitful. If there's undeniable proof he's being a scamming fuck, it's the intent that makes it worse.

Now that being said; I honestly don't think he's gone this far into debt off pure stupidity. There has to be a certain level of intentional sabotage/lying. Don't get me wrong, he's proven to be dumber than a box of rocks. But there comes a point where I have to err on the side of intent, and he passed that once the horse moved in.

 

[ReentryPhantom]

I know of DSP and his antics. But how the fuck did he get himself into this situation?

What he will tell you: False copyright strikes, losing his Machinima partnership, losing his Curse partnership, the trolls, YouTube ad revenue plummeting, Tevin and his egg gang.

The real reason: He's shit with money.

 

[Zack the ripper]

how much fast food can you buy with this ?

 

[marlintan]

Over 6 years, the penalty would be about $850 a year, or about $70 per month, add that to either monthly payment and its still not even $500 per month... so I guess y'all can expect monthly tips goals to cover the tax payment plan?

I'm still of the mind that he is going to put a portion of the taxes on his CC, and that's where the E7 money went, to pay down his credit cards. I think the $17K figure is not "after the E7 money", rather its his total tax liability. I distinctly remember Dave saying the end game for him is to refinance his WAkando, and he needs better credit to do that.

Either way $500 a month is like 12 bottles of gin? He gonna have to switch to Seagrams, but not much else will change.

 

[Very Honest Content]

If you owe the IRS taxes and you ostensibly run your own business but are still dumb enough to qualify your income for self employment tax quarterly payments, you just might be a legit caREErcow...

Reminds me a lot of Alison Rapp not being able to get her tax situation ironed out over two tax seasons of her thread before she went DFE on her web presence. Phil isn't smart enough to pull that trick though so watching him get dry anal raped by the IRS is still good for a laugh!

 

[Onixer]

This is my first time ever on this website and posting on it. I personally believe DSP is a pathological lier and foy you guys to spend anytime figuring out his finances is useless. I believe everything he says from his money problems to relationships and personal stuff is a lie. Deep inside of me I believe he is doing more than fine, he may have 500k to 1 million in the bank. No tax problems, no problems with family or his condo (he might have already sold it or never owned one). Everything is a lie to manipulate viewers and childish fans. His yearly tax thing is like getting a yearly bonus from working for a company. Other than that he is fine and you all fall for everything he says and its sad. I personally want DSP to fail, i want him gone from the internet, but it will never happen and im fine with it, but for all of you to believe a single thing he says (money wise specially) is ridiculous. All you are doing is creating drama and hype for something that might not even exist, which gives him attention and more money in return from his "fans" and contrarians who want to prove you wrong by helping this Pig. Your time is better used in someone else. He is lying about every single thing. He is fine, and making 4 times more than you believe. No problems at all, just an average actor who knows how to manipulate people daily, weekly, monthly and yearly for life.

Just my opinion...
Laterz!

 

[Il_Duke]

This is my first time ever on this website and posting on it. I personally believe DSP is a pathological lier and foy you guys to spend anytime figuring out his finances is useless. I believe everything he says from his money problems to relationships and personal stuff is a lie. Deep inside of me I believe he is doing more than fine, he may have 500k to 1 million in the bank. No tax problems, no problems with family or his condo (he might have already sold it or never owned one). Everything is a lie to manipulate viewers and childish fans. His yearly tax thing is like getting a yearly bonus from working for a company. Other than that he is fine and you all fall for everything he says and its sad. I personally want DSP to fail, i want him gone from the internet, but it will never happen and im fine with it, but for all of you to believe a single thing he says (money wise specially) is ridiculous. All you are doing is creating drama and hype for something that might not even exist, which gives him attention and more money in return from his "fans" and contrarians who want to prove you wrong by helping this Pig. Your time is better used in someone else. He is lying about every single thing. He is fine, and making 4 times more than you believe. No problems at all, just an average actor who knows how to manipulate people daily, weekly, monthly and yearly for life.

Just my opinion...
Laterz!

Phil bought a condo in Connecticut in 2009 for $131,000, and tried to sell it (unsuccessfully) in 2017 at a $64,000 loss. He still has a mortgage on this condo, as you can see on his public property tax records. Whether this mortgage is $85,000 or $85 isn't public, but he bought the condo, still 'owns' it, and still owes money on it.

Phil bought a condo in Washington in 2009 for $265,000, and again still has a mortgage on this condo. Once again, this is pretty easily searchable.

Phil paid his property taxes late the last two years. Whether he had to scramble and beg for those taxes or was just too lazy to pay them on time is up for question, but in all three of the above cases why would he be paying interest and penalties if he had a nest egg?

Most of Phil's income is directly trackable - Patreon, Subscriptions, Bits, are all visible and there's clear public information about Twitch and Patreon's "cut". For the remaining 'unknowns' to add up to a 4x multiplier on his income, all of the below would have to be true:
- Phil's YouTube CPM would have to be significantly higher than YouTube's partnered and promoted streams, despite Phil rarely showing up in YouTube search results and generally getting bottom-barrel banner ads on his videos.
- Phil would have to receive large numbers of tips (more than the entire total he makes public) he completely declines to read on screen, with no fans or detractors publicly bringing up that fact on Twitter, his chat, or his forums.

Phil's absolutely a liar - smarter people than me on this forum do a good job of building the puzzle from the pieces we DO have, and there's plenty of healthy disagreement about the rest. Whether Emerald_7/11's sub money is included in that $17k number, whether his parents are going to be involved in helping him pay, what amount he genuinely thinks he has to pay now vs. what he can shift off to a credit card or payment plan. Autistic or not, though, that's all an informed conversation - whether or not Phil lies about everything in his life, there's enough public information to make "He's actually sitting on a million dollar nest egg" a pretty weak opinion.

 

[WeeblesWobble]

He is fine, and making 4 times more than you believe. No problems at all, just an average actor who knows how to manipulate people daily, weekly, monthly and yearly for life.

I understand why people feel like the tax thing is a scam, and it could go either way. I do not think that he is doing so well as far as making money though. Most of his income can be tracked accurately and he makes decent money but not 500k to 1mill in the bank money. Even if he had saved up that much when he was making the big bucks it would be shrinking quite quickly with the amount of things he has to spend money on every year. 2 condos with HOA fees. Two property tax payments a year. An income tax payment every year. One brand new car. Homeowner's insurance, auto insurance. And he buys at least a grand in games every year. He might be getting by just fine but I don't think he's well off.

 

[JamFlowMan]

It'll all work out. It's Phil. Even if one day he has to sell the house he has another one. If he would happen to get banned from Twitch he'll just flip flop his opinions and discuss how YouTube is the future and superchats are far better then cheers. I'm sure there is some truth to this tax thing since Phil isn't creative enough to make something up. Like his commentary he just talks about something right in front of him and embellishes it into the worst case scenario. This will just be added to the pile of debt for Phil's future paypigs to cover.

 

[Hungrymandinner]

This is my first time ever on this website and posting on it. I personally believe DSP is a pathological lier and foy you guys to spend anytime figuring out his finances is useless. I believe everything he says from his money problems to relationships and personal stuff is a lie. Deep inside of me I believe he is doing more than fine, he may have 500k to 1 million in the bank. No tax problems, no problems with family or his condo (he might have already sold it or never owned one). Everything is a lie to manipulate viewers and childish fans. His yearly tax thing is like getting a yearly bonus from working for a company. Other than that he is fine and you all fall for everything he says and its sad. I personally want DSP to fail, i want him gone from the internet, but it will never happen and im fine with it, but for all of you to believe a single thing he says (money wise specially) is ridiculous. All you are doing is creating drama and hype for something that might not even exist, which gives him attention and more money in return from his "fans" and contrarians who want to prove you wrong by helping this Pig. Your time is better used in someone else. He is lying about every single thing. He is fine, and making 4 times more than you believe. No problems at all, just an average actor who knows how to manipulate people daily, weekly, monthly and yearly for life.

Just my opinion...
Laterz!

Phil’s a grifter, no doubt. I doubt he’s got that much holed away, though, because he’s an idiot. A person of normal or above average intelligence would have hundreds of thousands of dollars in index funds if they were in Phil’s position. Phil, on the other hand, has a moldering condo and a closet full of video game statues.

 

[strandedcastaway]

Phil's strategy was actually pretty smart if you take his word to be true (which the people giving him $ obviously do). He set this outrageous goal that will bring in a ton of pitybux, but he also hedged and said a payment plan could be worked out. So even if he falls way short, he still won't have to "sell the house" or any of the other bullshit consequences his lack of financial control always (allegedly) threaten him with, and he can continue to throw around this number well into the future. The worst-case scenario is some idiots actually give him the money, and then he's got more of the suckers' cash to piss away.

 

[OfflineCyberBully]

Phil's strategy was actually pretty smart if you take his word to be true (which the people giving him $ obviously do). He set this outrageous goal that will bring in a ton of pitybux, but he also hedged and said a payment plan could be worked out. So even if he falls way short, he still won't have to "sell the house" or any of the other bullshit consequences his lack of financial control always (allegedly) threaten him with, and he can continue to throw around this number well into the future. The worst-case scenario is some idiots actually give him the money, and then he's got more of the suckers' cash to piss away.

I'm hoping his paypigs fail to bail his arse out this time. If he sells the Wakhando, then we know he actually does have some financial problems. If he spins some BS yarn about working out a payment plan after failing to raise much of the required funds, then it'll be clear that the tax crises are, at the very least, exaggerated.

His spending habits - buying another condo before selling the first one, statue collection, gin habit, expensive Christmas decorations, 'business' internet - are well-documented and prove he's prone to making piss-poor financial decisions, but I'm on the fence about him owing $17K. He's too calm and relaxed with three weeks left, not to mention his vay-cay to the mean streets of Connecticut.

 

[Cyber Bowling]

I'm hoping his paypigs fail to bail his arse out this time. If he sells the Wakhando, then we know he actually does have some financial problems. If he spins some BS yarn about working out a payment plan after failing to raise much of the required funds, then it'll be clear that the tax crises are, at the very least, exaggerated.

His spending habits - buying another condo before selling the first one, statue collection, gin habit, expensive Christmas decorations, 'business' internet - are well-documented and prove he's prone to making piss-poor financial decisions, but I'm on the fence about him owing $17K. He's too calm and relaxed with three weeks left, not to mention his vay-cay to the mean streets of Connecticut.

I think his vacation is actually part of why he's relaxed, I have a feeling he's going there because his parents promised to give him money under the guise of a birthday gift or helping with his taxes or giving him a chance to have a future with Kat etc. This is Phil, he wouldn't be leaving his gout mansion and going so far out of his comfort zone if he wasn't getting something out of it.

Even if his parents aren't going to foot the majority of his taxes, it's possible he's finally figured out you can set up a payment plan for your taxes, and Phil gets enough pennies thrown at him where he can make his first monthly payment. And to Phil, that's all that matters. Financially, his biggest shortcoming is his inability to plan for the future. His infamous "that's what credit cards are for" line from a few weeks back perfectly highlights his mentality, or his pigroach logic about rainy day funds.

Phil for sure lies and exaggerates about his finances. I think one of the biggest things he lies about which sometimes makes him seem better off is the supposed penalties. Phil is constantly implying if he misses a single payment or is late by a day the government is going to seize his house the very next day and kick him out on the street. That's not how it works. People miss payments all the time. It's bad, and there's usually interest and late fees and other factors built in that causes a slippery slope where you continue to fall further and further into debt, but it can take months or even years for anything to actually happen. We have another cow here, Onison, who is a good example of this. He's currently in trouble over tax stuff and destroying his property, which is protected wetlands. Unlike Phil, he was investigated and got in trouble, but it's still been an ongoing thing just because of how long it takes.

Even with bills, some states have protections in place to limit what companies can do if you miss payments. I don't know if Seattle specifically has anything like this in place, but I sincerely doubt Phil is going to lose his heat or power if he's late with a payment. IMO, Phil is just entering into the stage where he's hitting genuine financial trouble, or at least, when it starts to feel real for him. He's been skating by largely on racking up charges on a limited no interest credit card, then immediately jumping over to a new credit card to pay off the previous credit card. You can get by on this for a surprisingly long time, but not indefinitely, especially with Phil's financial situation. Phil by no means makes bad money (though you can argue the methods he uses to make money are awful) but, it still pales into comparison to what he was making when he was first exploiting the YouTube algorithm/YouTube in general was paying out way more in ad revenue.

Realistically, I think it will be at least a few more years before things start getting significantly serious for Phil. It feels like right now he's hitting the point where he's struggling, but places are still willing to work with him. He's still building debt and not making any significant financial changes, whether that's reducing his spending or trying to earn more money. Basically, like always, Phil is his own worst enemy.

Quick edit Just saw a very good point in another one of the threads here about Phil's money mentality. Phil is constantly pushing for tips versus subs or cheers, because he gets paid for the tips immediately while the cheers/subs take 2ish months to process. If Phil really was sitting on a giant bank account and playing 4d chess, he'd be pushing more for subs and patreon support, because those ultimately pay out more than tips, but Phil needs the money instantly to hit all his minimum payments.

 

[Crunchy Smegma]

Even if this makes me seem gullible, I would like to say what I think of Phil. I don't think he is generally the kind of person to outright fabricate lies. Sure, there were times such as with Kat, where he made up shit to avoid having to dish out the fact that he was dating a cheater from a broken home, but I don't believe he has ever made up a lie to make money. He just leaves out details, e.g. instead of saying the exact amount of money he owed from the beginning, just saying "it could be up to x amount" in hopes that people would donate more than he owed. So when Phil says that he owed that amount in taxes. I choose to believe him, because in the event that he were found out to be lying, he would lose his entire fanbase in a day.