Brittany Cartwright Fighting Nearly $500K Tax Claim

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Brittany Cartwright is pushing back hard after California tax authorities flagged her for nearly half a million dollars in allegedly unpaid taxes — and her team says the whole thing is a paperwork mistake.

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The The Valley star’s name has appeared on the California Franchise Tax Board’s semiannual “Top 500 Delinquencies” list, which tracks the state’s largest outstanding personal income tax debts over $100,000. According to documents obtained by TMZ, the listing claims Cartwright owes a staggering $463,632.12.

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That’s a headline-grabbing number. But Cartwright and her team aren’t running from it — they’re disputing it directly.

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Her CPA, Christopher Fank, sent a letter to the California Franchise Tax Board laying out exactly what he believes happened. Fank, who says he has handled Cartwright’s taxes for the past five years, confirmed that she has paid all taxes owed during that period. The real problem, he says, traces back to 2019, when \”phantom income and tax\” were mistakenly reported under her name — a clerical error that has apparently snowballed into this very public mess. He’s now working directly with the tax board to correct it, and the agency has agreed to place a hold on the account while Cartwright submits proof that she doesn’t owe the disputed amount.

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In short: her accountant says she’s not dodging taxes, she’s untangling someone else’s mistake.

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The Financial Fallout of Her Split From Jax Taylor

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The timing is rough, to say the least. Cartwright has spent the better part of the past year dealing with a very public separation from estranged husband Jax Taylor — and money has been a central, painful thread throughout all of it.

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As viewers of The Valley watched unfold, Cartwright found herself shouldering the financial weight of their household largely on her own while Taylor was in rehab. Her fears were real and specific. \”My biggest fear is he’s gonna try just to leave and stick me with that $14,000 a month mortgage, and all of everything is gonna be on my back,\” she said on the show.

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Those fears weren’t unfounded. Bravo TV reported that Taylor had fallen behind on the mortgage for their Valley Village home for several months. Because both names were on the mortgage, Cartwright had no way to walk away from it. Taylor, meanwhile, had signed a lease on a separate condo and refused to keep paying for a home he no longer wanted to live in.

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And the mortgage wasn’t the only bill piling up. Taylor had also stopped paying his taxes — for years. His explanation was disarmingly blunt: \”I didn’t have the money to pay it, so I just kind of let it ride.\” That decision had a direct impact on Cartwright. \”My mortgage used to be around 8,000 [dollars a month]. I pay 18,000 [dollars a month] now because of his taxes,\” she explained on The Valley After Show. The unpaid taxes alone had ballooned to around $100,000 before Taylor eventually settled them. He also admitted they had to remortgage their house as a result of his actions — which is how that monthly payment nearly doubled.

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Taylor has since expressed remorse. \”Putting my son and putting Brittany in such an awkward place, I’ll never forgive myself for that. And it was just an awful thing to do,\” the Vanderpump Rules veteran admitted.

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Where Things Stand With Co-Parenting Cruz

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Through all of it, Cartwright has kept her focus on their five-year-old son Cruz, who was recently diagnosed with autism. She’s been open about spending extra money each month specifically to keep a pool in their home — \”I didn’t want to take Cruz away from a swimming pool because that is like his happy place,\” she said — a small but telling detail about the kind of mother she’s determined to be regardless of the chaos around her.

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The custody agreement the former couple reached earlier this year includes shared responsibility for Cruz’s health, education, and well-being, with Cartwright holding final decision-making authority if they can’t agree. Both parents are also prohibited from being under the influence of marijuana, alcohol, or other substances during their time with Cruz.

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Taylor, who has spoken publicly about struggling with cocaine addiction since his early twenties, said getting sober was directly tied to wanting to be a better example for his son. He wanted Cruz to one day look back and see the change.

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As for the tax situation, Cartwright’s CPA appears confident the issue will be resolved. The account is on hold, the paperwork is in motion, and Cartwright is clearly not interested in letting a 2019 filing error define her 2026. Whether the California Franchise Tax Board agrees is the next chapter.

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“category”: “Celebrity