'Take This Job And Shove It' writer owes IRS $466K

Country music singer-songwriter David Allan Coe pleaded guilty Monday in federal court in Cincinnati to income tax evasion and owes the IRS more than $466,000, officials said.

Coe, 76, who wrote the song, "Take This Job And Shove It," has owed the Internal Revenue Service for outstanding taxes since at least 1993, court documents say.

Between 2008 and 2013, officials said, he either failed to file his individual income tax returns -- or when he did, he failed to pay the taxes due. Coe faces up to three years in prison. The nearly half a million dollars owed includes taxes, interest and penalties.

According to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office, instead of paying the taxes in full, Coe spent the money earned from live concert performances "on other debts and gambling."

The case is in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati. Court documents say Coe received multiple MoneyGram transfers of income in Cincinnati in 2011 and 2012. He also used a Cincinnati-based accounting firm to prepare his taxes, and in 2009 filed his taxes from Cincinnati.

His Memphis-based attorney, Michael Stengel, could not be reached for comment. 

Coe, who performs at least 100 times a year, arranged to be paid primarily in cash, the news release said. Coe didn't allow $50 bills, the news release said, because "he believed they were bad luck and would not gamble with them."

He stopped using a personal bank account in 2009.

"Coe's arrangement to be paid primarily in cash was also in an effort to impede the ability of the IRS to collect on the taxes owed," the news release said.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Attorney's Office and special agents with the IRS's criminal investigations unit.