from www.tmz.com – Joe Francis no longer owes Uncle Sam $33 million in back taxes, which is news … to Joe Francis.

As TMZ first reported, Joe was fighting the IRS over the $33 million tax lien they slapped against him this past November. Joe sued to get the government to for it over and, lo and behold, he won — which came as great news to Joe.

When we called Joe for comment, he said, “Really? I paid it?”

After a little digging, Joe called us back and said he “thinks” the lien was just released (meaning the government dropped it) — but that he didn’t actually pay anything.

Must be nice to not even know if you just shelled out $33 million to the federal government.