Gibson and the G-men

[-CB-]

With Tax season now behind us I thought this little news article was interesting.

Earlier this week, it was reported by The Nashville Post that The Internal Revenue Service filed a lien against Gibson Guitar Corp. for $445,994 in unpaid corporate and payroll taxes dating back to 2006.

The lien, filed with the Davidson County Register of Deeds, shows Gibson with unpaid 2006 payroll taxes totaling $3,350 and two years of corporate income taxes of $442,644 from 2007 and 2008.

The company released the following statement:
Gibson Guitar Corp., received Notice that a Tax lien has been filed against the company by the IRS.

"This tax lien is associated with certain penalties and interest claimed due, but unpaid for the company’s tax period of 2006 to 2008. Gibson Guitar believes these returns prepared by the company’s previous outside independent tax and auditing firm, contained multiple errors which resulted in delayed payment for taxes due for each of these periods. The company is currently amending each of these returns and believes that once amended returns are filed, substantial tax refunds will be due and that any penalties or interest claimed due will be abated. The company was already in communication with the IRS on this issue and is confident this will be resolved shortly."

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In plain English:  Gibson got fingered by the IRS, and now their cooking the books in an attempt to escape with there hides unblemished. 

 

[hannaugh]

Man, what has happened to Gibson?  It seems like all I ever hear about the company these days is that they're screwing up left and right with their business practices, and all the new stuff I see coming out in their product line is gimmicky and uninspired.  They used to be cool.  It's just sad. 

 

[Nando Vallart]

Man, what has happened to Gibson?  It seems like all I ever hear about the company these days is that they're screwing up left and right with their business practices, and all the new stuff I see coming out in their product line is gimmicky and uninspired.  They used to be cool.  It's just sad. 

Wish I had the money to buy Gibson... the WHOLE company

 

[DangerousR6]

Let's pool our monies, pay the taxes, and own Gibson....

 

[JaySwear]

Wish I had the money to buy Gibson... the WHOLE company

me too! i'm sure it's much easier to say "i would turn the company around," but i definitely wouldn't fire employees for making suggestions and such like i've heard they're doing. plus the last few scandals they've had are just dumb and avoidable. makes me wish i kept my gibson. might be worth twice as much if they end up imploding!

 

[exaN]

Let's pool our monies, pay the taxes, and own Gibson....

I'm sure the company itself is overpriced :laughing7:

 

[Nando Vallart]

Let's pool our monies, pay the taxes, and own Gibson....

I'm sure the company itself is overpriced :laughing7:

Nothing like a good negotiation.... (with baseball bat )

 

[Lucky #7]

I take it they don't have a board that can boot the dumbass in charge out the door?  I really don't understand how a lot of the major guitar companies stay in business.  It is just absurd what they charge for some of these instruments.  Just perusing their site, I love Billy Gibbons and ZZ Top, but $15k for a Pearly Gates Custom?  How can they say that with a straight face?  That's not even getting into moronic designs like the Zakk Wylde coffin shaped guitar.  They just about had to kill the Les Paul in the 80s to stay around and lucked into Slash.  At that point the LP Standard was under a grand.  Not so today.  They better start dropping prices soon and and stop running their business like a bunch of morons because even if they find another Slash or he gets rediscovered by the masses as a solo artist, I don't think it can save them at all given how high their prices are. 

 

[dbw]

That's modern corporate accounting.  Do ANYTHING to avoid paying taxes.

"The most egregious example is General Electric. Last year the conglomerate generated $10.3 billion in pretax income, but ended up owing nothing to Uncle Sam. In fact, it recorded a tax benefit of $1.1 billion." http://www.forbes.com/2010/04/01/ge-exxon-walmart-business-washington-corporate-taxes.html

 

[-CB-]

Gibson is like a lot of really stupid companies, that go nuts in a growth period, and stretch themselves quite thin, only to fall flat on their arses when the times go lean.

Honestly, do you think they're selling LP Std's like they used to?  No flippin way.  Their dead in the water. 

The thing there, would have been to bomb the market with low end guitars, intended to be built on a temporary basis, and make just enough of the pretty stuff to maintain it "as needed".