Judge Recommends Pennsylvania Couple Pay $1.77M in Unpaid Taxes
On Friday, May 30, 2025, Law360 reported that a Pennsylvania couple, Andre and Monique Vaughn, who owe the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) $1.77 million, should be mandated to pay their tax debts. This conclusion came from Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Daryl F. Bloom, who recommended in a report that a federal court grant the IRS summary judgment against the Vaughns and convert their tax assessments into a formal judgment.
The judge found that Monique Vaughn has an outstanding tax liability of $924,000, while her husband, Andre Vaughn, owes more than $852,000. These liabilities were accumulated over several tax years, specifically from 2007, 2009, 2010, and 2012 through 2019.
The Vaughns did not dispute the amounts of their tax liabilities and failed to provide evidence to challenge the IRS’s claims. Additionally, they have not made any voluntary payments to reduce their debts, according to Judge Bloom’s report. Instead, the couple engaged in luxury spending, including purchasing high-end vehicles such as a Maserati and a Porsche, investing in cryptocurrency and horses, and traveling to international destinations including Japan, Australia, Mexico, and the Virgin Islands.
During the relevant tax years, the Vaughns attempted to file for bankruptcy multiple times. They made a joint Chapter 13 filing in 2012, which was unsuccessful, and each subsequently made individual attempts to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Andre Vaughn’s initial bankruptcy petition was dismissed in May 2015 due to missing documentation. He later pleaded guilty in federal court for failing to disclose his tax liabilities in his bankruptcy filings.
In January 2021, after the IRS took action against the couple, Andre Vaughn submitted another Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition, again omitting his tax debts from the schedules. This prompted the government to amend its complaint, seeking to have the tax debts declared nondischargeable. Judge Bloom supported this amendment, asserting that the IRS had sufficiently demonstrated that Andre Vaughn had willfully attempted to evade his tax responsibilities.
Furthermore, the judge dismissed the Vaughns’ claims that their tax preparer had defrauded them, maintaining that this did not absolve them of their tax liabilities. Judge Bloom’s recommendations will now be considered by a federal court for final adjudication.
Source: Law360
