Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger denies owing $79000 in back taxes

Governor owes tax

TMZ revealed Friday morning that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) filed a federal tax lien against the governor in Los Angeles County Superior Court last spring seeking $79,000.

On its Website, TMZ posted a "notice of federal tax lien" filed in May by IRS with the Los Angeles County Recorder's Office. The document shows that Schwarzenegger owes $39,047 in taxes, fines or penalties from 2004 and $40,016 from 2005.

The IRS document lists the debtor as Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has been Governor of California since 2003, with his home address in Brentwood.

Arnold camp refutes IRS claims
However, Schwarzenegger's office denies owing any money in back taxes, insisting the issue is related to "a minor paperwork tracking discrepancy," and will be cleared up soon.

"The governor had not been notified of any discrepancy or of the lien until today," the governor's spokesperson, Aaron McLear said in a statement Friday.

"The governor is resubmitting certain information to the IRS and we fully expect that the matter will be resolved and the lien expunged without any penalty assessed upon the governor."

He said the issue is "completely unrelated to the payment of taxes, which the governor has paid in full and on time."

The lien on Schwarzenegger's property reportedly is related to section 6721 of the Internal Revenue Code, which suggests the debt may be penalties for a "Failure to file correct information returns."

Dean Patterson, an IRS spokesman, says the agency could not comment on individual cases.

Other violations
Earlier this week, the Terminator star-turned-politician hit the headlines for violating the rules of the road. The photos of his Porsche illegally parked in a red zone were making rounds all over the Web in recent days. However, he later realized his parking blunder and apologized saying "No one is perfect -- not even me."

Before this his wife Maria Shriver was caught making the same violation. In October, she was caught on video parking her Cadillac Escalade in a red zone in Santa Monica.