State Sen. Rob Stafsholt, who represents the 10th district and is running for re-election in 2024, had a lien filed against him by St. Croix County for failure to provide a 2020 income tax return, but Stafsholt said countless efforts to file to the Department of Revenue were made, and he did not owe back taxes after the dust settled.

Stafsholt claimed his accountant filed for an extension and ultimately filed federal and state returns electronically in August 2021, as the regular filing deadline was already extended to May 2021 due to the pandemic. In the summer of 2022, Stafsholt said he received a letter from the Department of Revenue claiming they still had not received the filing. Stafsholt then had his accountant send a hard copy of the returns document to the department in July 2022.

In October 2023, the department again mailed Stafsholt, which started months of communication between himself, his accountant and the Department of Revenue, according to Stafsholt.

A lien was filed against Stafsholt in June 2024, which he claims he did not learn about until August. The delinquent tax warrant was for $40,978 in taxes, $22,471 in interest and $14,974 in penalties and fees. Stafsholt met with a representative of the Department of Revenue in July 2024, and signed new copies of the 2020 return which ultimately led to the lien becoming satisfied.

Stafsholt said the Department of Revenue did not list a number under the “amount paid” in the court system because Stafsholt did not owe back taxes, receiving a refund check of $2,342 in July.