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Home / Hollywood and TV / The IRS seized Redd Foxx's Las Vegas home, seven vehicles and bank accounts in 1989, and…
Case file s1866 · Hollywood and TV · 1991
See 1991 on the timelineSee it in 3D
1991
Redd Foxx: Redd Foxx 1966
Redd Foxx. Coast Artists Inc. (management); photographer: John E. Reed, Hollywood.. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons.
Died
11 October 1991
Place
Los Angeles, California · United States
Field
comedian and TV actor (Sanford and Son) · Film and television on the timeline
Legal tradition
US federal tax law; Nevada probate · Common law
Historical event
The 28 November 1989 IRS seizure at Foxx's Las Vegas home
Religion
Redd Foxx: Other Christian (recorded as Christianity on Wikidata)
Hollywood and TVSeized by the statePostwarNorth AmericaUnited States

The IRS seized Redd Foxx's Las Vegas home, seven vehicles and bank accounts in 1989, and his estate was still in probate with an IRS lien in 2006

On 28 November 1989 at least 17 IRS agents arrived at Redd Foxx's home near the Las Vegas Strip and gave him two minutes to open the door, according to UPI. They took the house, furniture and contents, seven vehicles and money in his Valley Bank accounts. Liens filed 22 November totaled $755,166.21 for unpaid income taxes on 1983 through 1986, with penalties and interest on top. Foxx had filed Chapter 11 in February 1983, listing over $1.6 million owed in taxes. A later arrangement let him keep many belongings while the IRS took part of his Las Vegas earnings. He collapsed on the set of The Royal Family on 11 October 1991 and died at 68. The Seattle Times reported the IRS claimed $2.9 million; other accounts say $3.5 million†. He had married Ka Ho Cho in July 1991. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that a probate judge removed his stepdaughter, Debraca Foxx, as administrator in 2006 with an IRS lien still on the estate, and that a public administrator took over in 2007†. The widow accused the stepdaughter of taking money instead of paying the tax debt, an allegation†.

What the law took from it

An unpaid tax debt outlives the debtor and can hold an estate open for 15 years.

Sources
  1. probatelawyerblog.comCourt record
  2. UPIPress
  3. The Seattle TimesPress
  4. reviewjournal.comPress
  5. Wikipedia (English)Encyclopedia

Cite as: celebrity.estate, “The IRS seized Redd Foxx's Las Vegas home, seven vehicles and bank accounts in 1989, and his estate was still in probate with an IRS lien in 2006,” story s1866, https://www.celebrity.estate/redd-foxx-1991, updated 30 October 2026.

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Where this case sits

Hollywood and TVSeized by the statePostwarNorth AmericaCommon lawUnited States