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Lauryn Hill reported to federal prison on Monday
The singer has been sentenced to three months for failing to pay her income taxes
She pleaded guilty last year to three counts of tax evasion on more than $1.8 million
Hill is serving her sentence at a low-security facility in Connecticut
Right on schedule, singer Lauryn Hill reported to federal prison on Monday to begin a three-month sentence for failing to pay federal income taxes.
The musician and mother of six pleaded guilty last year to three counts of failing to file tax returns on more than $1.8 million from 2005 to 2007.
The Grammy winning artist was sentenced to three months in federal prison, which she’ll serve at a low security female facility in Danbury, Connecticut.
Hill has sold millions of albums – 16, to be exact – but when she appeared before a judge in May, she said that she lives modestly considering the amount of money her music has earned for others.
“Someone did the math, and it came to around $600 million,” she said at the time. “And I sit here before you trying to figure out how to pay a tax debt? If that’s not like enough to slavery, I don’t know.”
The U.S. attorney’s office said that the income in question was earned mainly from music and film royalties that were paid to companies she owned from 2005 to 2008.
According to the prosecutor, the sentence handed down “also takes into account additional income and tax losses for 2008 and 2009 – when she also failed to file federal returns – along with her outstanding tax liability to the state of New Jersey, for a total income of approximately $2.3 million and total tax loss of approximately $1,006,517.”
After her three-month prison stint, Hill was also sentenced to three months of home confinement and a year of supervised probation. She’ll also have to pay penalties, the taxes still owed and a $60,000 fine.
