Yikes! ‘Teen Mom: The Next Chapter’ Star Leah Messer Owes More Than $450,000 in State & Federal Taxes

Leah on paying her taxes (apparently)…

Leah Messer‘s “next chapter” will hopefully include shelling out some major cash to pay off the hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax debt she reportedly owes.

On Friday, The Sun broke the news that the Teen Mom: The Next Chapter star owes more than $450,000 in unpaid federal and state taxes, with more than $9,000 of that debt being added this year!

Back in November 2020, news broke that Leah owed about $155,000 in unpaid taxes. Since then, her tax debt has only increased, with an additional $295,000 in state and federal taxes being added to bring her tax bill up to over $457,000.

Leah, discussing her tax bill…

A Kanawha County, West Virginia, clerk told The Sun that a state tax lien–which is still unpaid— was recorded on June 27, 2022 for $9,238 for Leah.

As Teen Mom fans know, Leah this was around the time that Leah moved into a new home with her then-boyfriend Jaylan Mobley. Jaylan’s name was put on the deed of the house, without Leah’s name, even though TMZ has reported that Leah paid for the $515,000 home.

Earlier this month, Jaylan moved out of their shared home in West Virginia, but Leah and her daughters have continued to live there.

It is unknown if Leah’s new tax debt is related in part to the home purchase.

How Leah’s conversation with the IRS about paying taxes went…probably…

In the past, Leah has stated that she has always been too quick to loan money to needy friends and family. During a 2019 appearance on Kail Lowry’Coffee Convos podcast, Leah said she often helped out friends and family members financially because she didn’t want them to think she had changed because she was on a TV show.  

“I always want people to know I’m still that humble person and I felt [that] giving to everyone, I would get in return … but in the end it still hurt me,” she said. “It hurt me, like, it caused one of my divorces, with Jeremy [Calvert], because I would be giving to everyone. I gave my dad $40,000, just to keep my dad around … .”

“Hey, Daddy Dearest? Any chance I could get that cash back?”

Leah also spoke about footing the bill for family members to “have cars and houses and this and that.”

Leah is certainly not the first ‘Teen Mom’ star to find herself in tax trouble. In June 2020, former ‘Teen Mom 2’ stars Jenelle Evans and David Eason received a state tax lien of over $46,000 for the tax year of 2017.

In 2019, Teen Mom OG stars Catelynn Lowell and Tyler Baltierra were slapped with back-to-back federal liens. In November of that year, they were hit with a lien for the amount of $535,010 (for the tax years of 2016 and 2017). The pair received the second federal tax lien the following month (for the tax year of 2018) in the amount of $321,789. Though the couple eventually paid off the $535k they owed for 2016 and 2017, it was reported in August that they still owe $321,789 for their 2018 federal taxes.  

“I thought they would just forget about all that?”

Other ‘Teen Mom’ stars who have run into trouble with Uncle Sam include Amber Portwood, who received a federal tax lien for $134,919 in 2016, and Maci Bookout, who has also been chased down by the IRS multiple times since she started on ‘Teen Mom.’ In 2013, she was hit with a lien of $78,308, only to receive another lien in 2015 for $5,249 and a third in 2017 for $12,569. 

Leah has yet to comment on The Sun‘s latest findings. 

RELATED STORY: ‘Teen Mom’ Star Leah Messer Allegedly Broke Offer Her Engagement to Jaylan Mobley After Discovering He Was Cheating

(Photos: MTV)

26 Comments

  1. This is what happens when you give children significant amounts of money that they don’t actually have to work for. Allowing others to record your messed up life and bad choices is NOT earning a living! Shame on MTV for continuing to give insane amounts of money to these uneducated, irresponsible, moronic children. Maybe Uncle Sam should put them in a jail cell for awhile, and let them have enough time to realize that everyone has to pay taxes, even them!


  2. I am guessing she put the house in his name to avoid it being listed as an asset since she knows she owes good old Uncle Sam.


  3. The very wealthy – billionaires are getting away without paying taxes. Billionaires saw their profit margin up by 100% during COVID. How is that possible?


  4. As adults-they should know better.
    However, MTV should have set them up for success when they were teens…especially considering some of their upbringings.
    Made them appointments with financial advisors, the need for taxes-or withholding taxes in a separate account.
    Guess this soapbox rant is much too late


      1. I agree, it is not the responsibility of Mtv to show these adults how to pay their bills. When they were teens, it was the parents job to look after their children, not their employers. None of my jobs ever sat me down and said, hey, let me teach how to be wise with your finances. Mtv is a business, not a daycare.


  5. Hmm if only the gubment would come after taxes like they do student loans. I think she should be held accountable, “monkey” topic or not. At some point amongst multiple children, houses, and marriages you became a legal adult. Unfortunately, adults have to pay a thing called money to the gubment to help ya know, single moms that can’t feed their kids, section 8 housing for them, schooling and extra lunches, roads to those schools, and the good people at Children and Family Services who protect your crotch fruit from yourself apparently. We all paid for these things whether we have kids or not, and you enjoyed those benefits, so it is time to put your above average taxable income on the table, cupcake.
    OMFG she is stupid AF


  6. It only costs a couple hundred dollars to have a professional do taxes for you. With all the extra charges and interest it’s charges, you’d think they’d go the easier route…


  7. They should pay for all of their taxes before spending it on trips and getting all of these plastic surgeries!!! It’s time for the show to be cancelled here and have them go look for REAL JOBS!!!!


  8. What is with all these TM cast members not paying and having this much debt in taxes? Obv my/our not-rich asses wouldn’t (on paper anyway) pay as much in taxes as million dollar income people, but I don’t understand how one is even able to evade not paying for so long? (The TM folk don’t have that much clout to their names)


    1. This may have been a rhetorical question, so please forgive me for answering.

      The reasons MTV-ers struggle with unpaid taxes is that MTV treats them as contractors and doesn’t withhold taxes from their paycheck the way most of our employers pay us. Basically MTV is telling 18 year old young women and men that they aren’t important enough to be considered actual employees. It also means MTV doesn’t have to provide health insurance to the individuals they exploit.

      Rather than be responsible employers, they throw a truckload of money at kids from largely middle/lower class roots with zero guidance or education. It’s not Leah’s from a family who could advise her on millions of dollars.

      And it’s not just the Teen Mom— the Jersey Shore cast has also experienced their share of financial mismanagement. Mike went to prison over taxes (granted, he conspired to avoid paying his taxes instead of straight up negligence).

      This is, in my opinion, just another example of MTV exploiting the young adults who have placed their life for our consumption while treating them expensive train wrecks. 🤷‍♀️


      1. If Leah was still 16-20 years old, this would make sense. But, she’s pushing 30 and not a little girl anymore. At some point, she has to know better. She knows taxes are a thing. If she’s not paying her taxes at 30, that’s on her, not MTV.


  9. How was she approved to be a sponsor for her sister’s husband while owing this money to the government? Do they not do a thorough financial assessment and realize she probably isn’t in a position to take on the unnecessary debt? I panic at only owing a few hundred dollars each year when I file my taxes, I can’t even imagine how I’d feel if I ever got a tax bill that high. I’d be working a lot more and vacationing a lot less for starters. For the sake of her girls, I hope she’s able to pay these debts so they may have a stable future without fear of losing everything.
    Also, has anyone bothered to tell these girls taxes are a yearly thing? I would’ve thought they’d have caught on by now.


  10. Whaaaaat you mean people who only know how to birth babies and be dramatic for a living don’t know how to handle their financial responsibilities and live above their means?!? YOU DONT. SAY.


  11. Take another vacation with your family to Costa Rica, get knocked up and bring more kids here that they can’t pay for. So we will, thank you. Pay your fucking share, stop relying on us !


  12. Why are these girls not paying taxes?! Hire an effing financial advisor and accountant and do taxes quarterly. It’s not that hard.
    Also, buying a 500k house when you owe that much in taxes? Super smart decision.


  13. Bankruptcy like Sister wives family. They look like kings why I work my ass off to get by. Pay your fucking taxes people! You are not exempt, or better because you’re on a fucking TV show. Pay your taxes so I don’t have to pay extra to cover your share. Live within your means bitch


    1. I hope you have that same energy for the super-rich who don’t “pay their fair share”, and get out it via loopholes, accounts overseas, etc. Just sayin…


  14. I wonder if that’s why she let Jaylan put his name on the house. If she owed that much in taxes, she wouldn’t have been able to finance the house. So, pretty dumb to publicly announce that she had half a million lying around to pay for a house…


    1. She put his name on the deed, because she is stupid. I pay my bills why can’t you bitch? You make a hell of a lot more than I do but you Use the system to take it vantage.


  15. They’re all so screwed when the show ends and the money stops coming. It seems like none of them have invested in their future.

    I foresee several bankruptcies in their futures.

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