Actor James Caan’s Estate Owes Back Taxes for 2015 IRA Cashout

The estate of actor James Caan is on the hook for taxes on more than $1.5 million that he cashed out of a retirement account in 2015 and tried to claim as nontaxable, the Tax Court held Wednesday.

Caan’s financial adviser sought to move money from the actor’s UBS account to one at Merrill Lynch. This transfer triggered a distribution that was also reported to the IRS, which UBS valued at $1.91 million, the opinion said.

Caan claimed that distribution as nontaxable, but the Tax Court held Wednesday that he didn’t roll over the interest to a new IRA in ...