Nicolas Cage fined by the IRS over tax

Hollywood actor Nicolas Cage's (pictured) brush with the US Internal Revenue Service – he has been forced to pay close to $666,000 in back taxes and penalties for improperly deducting personal expenses from his professional income – offers a fascinating insight (probably not much appreciated on Cage's part) into how much he owns and how he spends it.

Cage, who won an Oscar for Leaving Las Vegas, was accused of wrongly writing off close to $3.3m that was subsequently proven by the IRS to have been used to maintain his lifestyle between 2002 and 2004. A considerable amount of this went on business expenses, including limousine rides, meals and the maintenance of a private jet. "Household help" at Cage's various homes around the world - he keeps properties in Los Angeles, the Bahamas and Rhode Island, as well as owning Midford Castle near Bath - accounted for more than $185,000. It also came out that Cage had put his 11,000sq ft mock-Tudor mansion in Bel Air on the market for $29m, and was moving into a smaller, leased flat.

His salary claims were also disputed by the IRS. Cage reported $430,000 in taxable income in 2003, but the tax men claimed it was more than $1.9m. In 2004, the year he starred in National Treasure he admitted to making close to $17m, although the IRS put the figure closer to $18.5m.

Cage's business manager, Samuel J Levin, disputed the IRS claims, saying that deducting the cost of food, domestic staff and travel from declared earnings was "customary in the entertainment industry" and necessary to finance Cage's "security needs". A costly move. A note on the US tax court's internet site revealed 20 per cent of the sum was a "penalty fee".

None of this should trouble Cage too much. The US magazine Forbes recently ranked the actor 49th in its annual Celebrity 100 list, claiming his income for the past 12 months was $38m, although a good portion of his fortune is tied up in his latest movie Bangkok Dangerous.