Puddle of Mudd‘s latest album, ‘Re(disc:)overed,’ may have earned the band another Top 5 album on Billboard’s Hard Rock charts this past August, but that doesn’t mean 2011 has been all sunshine and roses for frontman Wes Scantlin — in fact, between filing for divorce from his wife of four years and losing the band’s guitarist, Paul Phillips, something tells us that Scantlin won’t be sorry to see the year end in a couple of weeks.

Now, he has one more reason to look forward to starting over in 2012: the IRS is reportedly pursuing Scantlin for more than $60,000 in unpaid back taxes.

The news comes courtesy of TMZ, where sources dug up documents filed with the Los Angeles County Recorder’s office that assert Scantlin failed to pay nearly $45,000 in federal taxes in 2009, on top of a $17,000 tab for state taxes. TMZ reached out to Scantlin’s representation and were told that “the matter is being taken care of,” but no further comment has been offered.

Between all this tax drama and his divorce, it looks like Scantlin will be signing a lot of checks to attorneys in the near future. Fortunately, he’ll have the ongoing sessions for the next Puddle of Mudd album to distract him — earlier in the fall, he said the band hoped to get down to work on making new music “in November or December.”

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