Why Gibson is Selling $25,000 Guitars!
OK… so I don’t have scientific proof…or an inside scoop…but I have been wondering for some time why Gibson has been releasing all of these artist-played, custom-shop-relic’d, ultra-expensive signature guitars.
For example, the Jeff Beck 1954 Les Paul Oxblood – available for just under $25,000.00!
Then today (courtesy: Nashville Business Journal) I read this:
Gibson Guitar owes the Internal Revenue Service nearly $450,000.00!
Gibson Guitar Corp. faces a federal tax lien of nearly $446,000, according to Davidson County records filed today.
The Internal Revenue Service says the Nashville guitar manufacturer owes more than $442,600 in corporate income taxes for 2007 and 2008 and $3,350 in payroll taxes for 2006. The tax lien follows various legal and financial issues in the past year, including a federal raid over rare wood, allegations of price rigging and the downgrading of the company’s credit rating by Moody’s.
In an official statement, the company said Monday afternoon that the tax lien is associated with penalties and interest claimed due by the IRS. Gibson said the penalties and interest resulted from mistakes on 2006 through 2008 tax returns that were prepared by an independent tax and auditing firm that is no longer employed by Gibson.
“The company is currently amending each of these returns and believes that once amended returns are filed, substantial tax refunds will be due and that any penalties or interest claimed due will be abated.
The company was already in communication with the IRS on this issue and is confident this will be resolved shortly.”
Read more: IRS: Gibson Guitar owes nearly $450k – Nashville Business Journal
