Duane ‘Dog’ Chapman Reportedly Owes More Than $1.6 Million in Unpaid Taxes; Former ‘Dog the Bounty Hunter’ Star Sells His Colorado Mansion

“I offered to send the IRS some Dog the Bounty Hunter swag instead but they said no.”

Duane “Dog” Chapman is used to chasing fugitives, but now the former reality TV show star is the one being chased— by Uncle Sam!

According to The Sun, the Dog the Bounty Hunter star owes over $1.6 million in taxes, and has been hit with tax liens in multiple states and counties!

The bounty hunter, whose real name is Duane Chapman, currently has tax liens in Douglas County, Colorado, totaling $799,975 for the tax years 2014-2019.  Dog was hit with another lien for $20,147 for the 2020 tax year. 

He has another lien in Jefferson County, Colorado, for $800,087. 

Dog also reportedly owes $72,229 to the state of Hawaii for his income from the tax years 2014 and 2019. 

Amid his financial troubles, Dog sold his Colorado mansion for $1.59 million earlier this week, New York Post reported. The home was originally purchased in 2009 for $750,000 by Dog and his late wife, Beth Chapman

The six-bedroom, five-bathroom estate was featured on various shows, including ‘Dog the Bounty Hunter,’ Dog and Beth: On the Hunt, and Dog’s Most Wanted. (Dog and his current wife, Francie Frane, are now living in Florida.)

In a statement to The Sun, the former reality TV star claims that he is trying to get his tax problems taken care of.

“I’ve been working diligently to satisfy these outstanding debts and look forward to putting this behind us,” he said.

Dog’s financial issues aren’t the only troubles he’s faced over the last few years. After an embarrassing failed attempt at finding fugitive Brian Laundrie (who was on the run after being accused of killing his girlfriend Gabby Petito) in 2021, Dog was hit with a lawsuit over his canceled–before-it-premiered show, Dog Unleashed

In October 2021, Dog was sued for $1.3 million after his alleged racist & homophobic behavior contributed to ‘Dog Unleashed’ getting pulled before it made it to the air. 

As The Ashley previously reported, the show was canceled weeks before its scheduled premiere in April 2021, and according to statements made by Unleashed Entertainment President and CEO Michael Donovan at the time, the show was pulled because of “actions taken by Mr. Chapman during the show’s production that breach contractual agreements.” 

He cited Dog’s numerous Twitter exchanges and rants in 2021 as being part of the issue.

“Duane Chapman’s social media meltdown – which involves outrageous, false personal attacks – seems to be an attempt to distract attention from his contractual and ethical failures that led to the cancellation of ‘Dog Unleashed,’” Mike stated.

“Our internal investigation confirmed racist and homophobic comments from Mr. Chapman, as well as illegal activity during filming, which Unleashed Entertainment cannot and will not tolerate. These actions forced us to cancel production of the show, and unfortunately, Chapman is now viciously taking out his anger on our employees.”

Although ‘Dog Unleashed’ was canceled last year, Dog made his way back to reality TV in 2022. He appeared in six episode of FOX’s The Masked Singer, in which he was disguised as “The Armadillo.” 

(Photos: Photo by Bennett Raglin/Getty Images; Instagram) 

14 Comments

  1. 1.6 million. Owed. My husband and I have worked our whole life to pay the bills and the taxes, so people living high on the hog get away with not paying their share? WTf?


  2. I enjoyed the original show very much. Although Beth could be quite pushy and cantankerous, she kept her husband grounded. After she passed away, he seemed to become deranged. (No, I don’t think it was grief, because within 2 years he was remarried, after saying he would never marry again.) And, I always thought Baby Lissa and Gary were weird and “out there.”
    Therefore, this tax thing does not surprise me at all!!


    1. My least favorite of all the children is Cecily, I had no opinion one way or the other until her 16th birthday where Dog and Beth went all out, they rented out this HUGE venue, got her a brand spanking new car, she got a new dress, her hair and makeup was done professionally, manicure/pedicure, the whole 9 yards, and when she was getting her nails done she had the nerve to ask for black polish after Beth told her no and when she asked “why” Beth replied “because you’re getting enough of what you want”.

      From then on she struck me as a selfish “Its all about me” type person.

      They bent over backwards to give her the best and she ALWAYS wanted more!!


  3. I will never understand how many reality stars and actors just don’t pay their taxes–just don’t get it!!!


  4. Do he like persons of color? Allegedly he called minorities names and treated them like they were beneath him. Why not sentence him like they did the Chrisleys? These are non violent charges that should be fined and some community service. Remember haters gonna hate


  5. Lying about what? What racist problem with his son?

    And if you’re arresting a fugitive you’re not gonna nice and sweet especially if youve gotta hunt them down which they most often did, I don’t remember too many going very peaceably.

    Like they’re motto said “where mercy is shown mercy is given”. So the kind words and prayers they spoke on the car rides to the jail were more than alot of the fugitives deserved but they were a “find them and fix them” type family.

    And I remember, they arrested one fugitive on his birthday but instead of just taking him to jail they had what they called a “tailgate birthday party” with a cake and balloons.

    That showed class most bounty hunters don’t have nor do many police have, most just want to collect the bounty/make the arrest and don’t care about the person they are arresting.


    1. Dog was recorded calling his son’s black girlfriend the n-word. And class? The man who cheated on ALL of his wives and wrote about it? The man that is now estranged from most of his 12 children? The one that threw his “adopted” daughter away the minute her mom was dead? The one who broke a deathbed promise to his wife that she’d be the last Mrs. Chapman and then remarried within two years after stringing Beth along for decades? Wow, class must mean something else to you. Also, do you live here? No one cares for you here and yet you comment the most…and your comments are almost always ignorant, idiotic, or downright offensive. If you’re not a troll, sweetie, get some help because you are DERANGED.


      1. First off, I really couldn’t care less who cares for me here. I can say what I want, just like you.

        Also, it was Tucker’s girlfriend that he called that.
        That’s the one who is always in so much trouble. She is the one that got him hooked on ice, I don’t know about you but if you messed with my kid, got him hooked on drugs and took him away, I’d call you the n-word and probably worse.

        As far as Cecily is concerned, I believe it was her choice to not have anything to do with him after he started seeing this new girl after her mom died, im sure she thought she was being loyal to her mother but she was being selfish, her father deserves happiness. And she isn’t his step daughter, he adopted her so he is her father, not by blood but still. And I NEVER cared for Cecily, she was always so “me, me, me”!!

        Plus, no one knows when their husband or wife dies if they’ll remarry or stay single, if you are distraught and your heart is breaking you’ll say things you don’t know are true. My dad “promised” my mom that he’d never remarry and shacked up with a chick 3 years after she died then married her. I’m not mad about that, my anger towards him seems from alot of other things he said and did.

        And Beth loved Dog, she is quoted as saying “You can’t have a rainbow without rain and he’s my rain” So, if he cheated on her, I don’t know, maybe he did or maybe he didn’t, and maybe your just saying what you’re saying because you don’t like the guy. The point is she forgave him so your point in bringing it up is pretty unnecessary.


  6. I used to like the Bounty Hunter show until…..his lying about what happened….there rude aggressive behavior….then I watched just out of pure horror.
    Then when he had the racist problem with his son….I was done
    He is a piece of work and that’s saying it mildly


      1. Idk, maybe I’m so hard to get along with because people are so close minded that their opinions are the only ones that matter.

        My life is bad, I suffer from depression (which you would know if you read my posts) but I try to make the best of it, which is why I tried coming here but people don’t wanna hear opposite opinions, they only care about people who agree with them and that to me is shitty and very much evidence of cliques, which is very adolescent. Like seriously, grow up and actually listen to people who don’t side with you.

        And yeah, I’ve heard the saying “we can’t help everybody” but I think that if counselors did their jobs right that they could help more people than they do.


      2. If you’re a therapist, why would you come on here and attack someone for having BPD? Pretty unprofessional. I have BPD and BP2. I don’t fight with other people and carry on. My BPD makes me critical of myself. You shouldn’t make generalizations.

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