Lead Opinion
This three-judge panel has determined unanimously that oral argument would not be of material assistance in the determination of this appeal. See Fed.R.App.P. 34(a); 10th Cir.R. 10(e). The cause is therefore ordered submitted without oral argument.
This is an appeal from a decision of the United States Tax Court upholding, for the most part, the Internal Revenue Service’s determinations of deficiency and additions to tax for petitioner’s tax years 1976, 1977, 1978, and 1979. Petitioner challenges both the deficiency assessment and the imposition of the civil fraud penalty under 26 U.S.C. § 6653(b).
Petitioner retired from the United States Air Force in 1963 and has received a military pension since that time. In 1976, petitioner submitted an employee’s withholding allowance certificate (Form W-4) to the Department of the Air Force certifying that he was entitled to thirteen withholding allowances. Consequently, only $110.87 was withheld as income tax from petitioner’s pension during 1976, and no amounts were withheld during 1977, 1978, or 1979. During the four years, petitioner continued receiving his military pension.
In the years 1976 and 1977, petitioner filed Forms 1040 from which he omitted information as to his social security number, exemptions, income, adjustments to income, deductions, and other information necessary to a determination of his tax liability. In place of such information, petitioner inserted the word “none” or asterisks which referred the reader to various constitutional objections.
Petitioner did not file any federal income tax returns for 1978 and 1979. On or about January 6, 1981, petitioner, aware that he was being investigated for those tax years, wrote to the IRS claiming that his wages were not taxable income and that he was not required to file a tax return.
The IRS determined deficiencies in petitioner’s income taxes for the years 1976, 1977, 1978, and 1979, and further assessed civil fraud penalties under 26 U.S.C. § 6653(b) and additions to tax for failure to pay estimated tax for each year in issue under 26 U.S.C. § 6654. Petitioner timely sought redetermination in the tax court. The tax court sustained the deficiencies and the additions to tax for the most part but allowed petitioner additional deductions for interest expenses and taxes. Petitioner appeals.
The Deficiency Assessments
A statutory notice of deficiency is presumed correct, and the petitioner has the burden of establishing that the respondent’s determination of income and deductions are incorrect. Welch v. Helvering,
The tax court affirmed the disallowance of the claimed trade or business expenses on the ground that petitioner had failed to prove that he was engaged in a trade or business during the years in question, that the activities in which he was engaged were accompanied by a profit motive, or that the payments for which deductions were claimed were not personal living expenses expressly made non-deductible by 26 U.S.C. § 262 (1984). In addition, the
The general test for whether a person is engaged in a “trade or business” under § 162 is whether the taxpayer’s primary purpose and intention in engaging in the activity is to make a profit. Snyder v. United States,
As petitioner argues, many taxpayers are in the business of helping people minimize their taxes, including accountants and lawyers. However, the evidence in the record concerning whether petitioner had “a good faith expectation of making a profit,” Snyder,
With regard to the purported capital loss carryover, the tax court found that petitioner had not presented any evidence of how the loss was incurred or how much had been applied to his tax liability for prior years. The tax court noted that petitioner had presented a copy of a schedule and some early returns showing that he had claimed capital losses, but found that this failed to satisfy petitioner’s burden of proof. Petitioner argues on appeal that the exhibits show the origin of the tax loss carryover and subsequent additions to short- and long-term capital losses from 1958 through 1975. The tax court correctly observed that petitioner’s failure to show how the loss had been incurred and how much of that loss had been applied to prior tax liabilities precluded a finding in his favor. See Davis v. Commissioner,
The Fraud Penalty
Petitioner also challenges the assessment of a 50 percent penalty for civil fraud under 26 U.S.C. § 6653(b) (1984).
Petitioner argues that he is not liable for the fraud penalty because he sought only to present a good-faith challenge to the internal revenue laws. Thus, he argues that this case is indistinguishable from Raley v. Commissioner,
The question of whether disclosed wilful defiance of the tax laws constitutes civil tax fraud is one of first impression in this circuit. Clearly, wilful failure to file a timely return does not in itself, without more, establish liability for the fraud penalties. Stoltzfus v. United States,
A man who files no return has made no misrepresentation. He has simply failed to do what the statute requires him to do. But the man who files a willfully false return has endeavored to mislead his government. He creates the appearance of having complied with the law, whereas his neighbor who has filed no return does no such thing____ There is also good common-law analogy for such a distinction both in the tort rules regarding liability for deceit and in criminal law rules regarding liability for obtaining money under false pretenses. The law has always distinguished between failing to disclose useful information and making a disclosure which is a lie.
United States v. Croessant,
Raley is not the only case in which a court has held that disclosed wilful defiance of the tax laws does not justify a fraud penalty under § 6653(b). In Muste v. Commissioner,
Further support for the view that disclosed defiance does not constitute fraud can be derived from the standard definitions of fraud. “[I]t must be accepted that Congress intended the ultimate conclusion of ‘fraud’ to be as ordinarily understood in the law.” Powell v. Granquist,
To establish fraud, the government must prove that the defendant possessed the requisite intent to defraud. The elements of fraud consist of: (1) a false representation, (2) in reference to a material fact, (3) made with knowledge of its falsity, (4) and with intent to deceive, (5) with action taken in reliance upon the representation.
(citations omitted). See also Venture Investment Co., Inc. v. Schaefer,
Clearly, where the taxpayer has informed the IRS of his refusal to file or to pay, and of the reasons for that refusal, the government has not been deceived. In addition, the disclosure clearly negates any intent to deceive. Thus, under traditional definitions of fraud, disclosed defiance of the tax laws is not fraudulent. Rather, it is intentional disregard of the rules and regulations — an offense for which Congress has expressly provided a penalty under § 6653(a). The five percent penalty has been imposed on those who failed to file because of objections to various provisions of the tax code or who filed protest returns. See, e.g., Druker v. Commissioner,
In summary, we agree with the Third Circuit’s interpretation of § 6653(b) in Raley. The fraud provisions of the tax code require more than a disclosed wilful refusal to file or the filing of protest returns. Indeed, since mere wilful failure to file is not of itself enough to justify the
The petitioner in this ease, however, did not merely openly defy the tax laws. It is true that in 1976 and 1977 Zell informed the IRS that he was not paying his taxes by stating his constitutional objections on the Form 1040. However, he also falsified his W-4 withholding statements, making the affirmative misrepresentation that he was entitled to 13 exemptions. In 1978 and 1979, he neither filed nor disclosed to the IRS that he was not filing.
There is an apparent split in the circuits concerning what the government must show, in addition to wilful failure to file or filing of a protest return, in order to prove the requisite fraudulent intent. In Spies v. United States,
would not without the clearest manifestation of Congressional intent assume that mere knowing and intentional default in payment of a tax, where there had been no willful failure to disclose the liability, is intended to constitute a criminal offense of any degree.
Id. at 498,
The Spies test has been adopted by the Fifth and Eighth Circuits in civil tax fraud cases. Jones v. Commissioner,
The Third Circuit refused to follow the strict view of Spies, and instead adopted a test requiring only an “affirmative indication” of an intent to evade the tax. Stoltzfus v. United States,
The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit specifically refused to consider whether the Spies test was a proper analogy to be applied to civil penalties. Powell v. Granquist,
We find that the approach followed by the Fifth and Eighth Circuits is the most consistent with the intent of the statute. Thus, a taxpayer is not liable for the civil fraud penalties unless he commits some affirmative act of concealment or misrepresentation. Mere failure to file, whether disclosed or not, does not justify the fraud penalties even when the taxpayer knows taxes are due.
In the present case, petitioner did not merely fail to file. Beginning in 1976, he filed false W-4 forms, thus committing an “affirmative act” of misrepresentation sufficient to justify the fraud penalty. In two cases, the Tax Court has found that a taxpayer who failed to file because of various objections to the income tax laws, and, in addition, filed false W-4 forms, was guilty of fraud. In Pavlic v. Commissioner,
In addition, petitioner in this case did not cooperate with the IRS agents during the investigation. To the extent that this factor has been considered in a number of cases in finding an intent to defraud, it counts against the taxpayer in this case. See, e.g., Powell v. Granquist,
Notes
. Petitioner’s failure to offer any evidence with regard to the additions to tax under 26 U.S.C. § 6654 warrants an affirmance of the tax court’s conclusion in this regard.
. In addition, even profit-motivated activity does not constitute a trade or business unless it has been "extensive activity over a substantial period of time during which the taxpayer holds himself out as selling goods or services.” Snyder,
Section 212 of the Code allows a taxpayer to deduct expenses incurred for the production of income, even if the taxpayer is not engaged in a trade or business. To be deductible under this section, the expenses must meet all of the other requirements of § 162, including the requirement of a profit motivation. Snyder,
. Section 6653(b) provides that “[i]f any part of any underpayment ... of tax required to be shown on a return is due to fraud, there shall be added to the tax an amount equal to 50 percent of the underpayment."
. This conclusion by the Second Circuit is dicta since the IRS did not attempt to collect a fraud penalty. However, it does demonstrate that dis
. It should be noted that, in a number of cases, the Tax Court has explicitly referred to the dictionary definitions of fraud. See, e.g., Muste v. Commissioner,
. In addition, there is a $500 penalty for frivolous returns specifically aimed at tax protesters. See 26 U.S.C. § 6702. The Senate Report states explicitly that "the Committee is concerned with the rapid growth of deliberate defiance of the tax laws by tax protesters____ The Committee believes that an immediately assessable penalty on the filing of protest returns will help deter the filing of such returns____” S.Rep. No. 494, 97th Cong., 2d Sess. 277, reprinted in 1982 U.S.Code Cong. & Ad.News, pp. 781, 1023-24. This penalty is the primary means currently in use to deter protest returns. See, e.g., Baskin v. United States,
. The taxpayer did write a letter to the IRS in 1981, after the IRS had started its investigation, explaining his refusal to pay taxes. From the perspective of the IRS, however, he neither filed nor actively protested in 1978 and 1979.
. The Court noted that affirmative attempt may be inferred from conduct "such as keeping a double set of books, making false entries or alterations, or false invoices or documents, destruction of books or records, concealment of assets or covering up sources of income, handling of one’s affairs to avoid making the records usual in transactions of the kind, and any conduct, the likely effect of which would be to mislead or conceal." Spies,
. The court also found evidence of fraudulent intent in the taxpayer's admission that he had continued to fail to file, in part, because of fear of criminal prosecution for his earlier failure to file. Thus, his failure to file in later years was part of an attempt "to conceal his failure to file for the prior years.” Id. at 1006.
. Powell was decided under a predecessor to the current code. The court in Powell noted that, under the newly enacted code not yet in effect, the fraud provision and the wilful failure to file provision are "mutually exclusive.”
Concurrence Opinion
concurring in the result.
I respectfully disagree with that portion of the majority opinion adopting the rationale of Raley v. Commissioner,
The Raley court held that fraud, as used in 26 U.S.C. § 6653(b), means “intentional wrongdoing on the part of a taxpayer motivated by a specific purpose to evade a tax known or believed to be owing” but where a taxpayer goes “out of his way to inform every person involved in the collecting process that he [was] not going to pay any federal income taxes” the IRS has not established the fraud requirement. Id. at 983. I disagree with this latter reasoning. It defies the purpose of the code. One who goes out of his or her way to inform the world at large that he or she will not pay federal income taxes is surely evading a tax known to be owing.
This court, in Ruidoso Racing Association, Inc. v. C.I.R.,
In United States v. Thompson,
In this case, petitioner, a retired Air Force colonel who regularly filed income tax returns from 1945 to 1975, affirmatively concealed his income for the years 1976 through 1979. In 1976 and 1977, he knowingly and intentionally omitted information from which his tax liability could be computed. In 1978 and 1979 he did not file income tax returns. Thus, petitioner undertook noncompliance with the voluntary self-assessment methods designed to evade the payment of taxes due. His actions frustrated the policies of the code. The purpose of the civil penalty for fraud is to discourage such noncompliance. See 10 Mertens, Law of Federal Income Taxation, §§ 55.09-55.18 (1976).
This court should decline to follow the Raley opinion. It constitutes an unwarranted departure from established law identifying “fraud” in the context of § 6653(b). In order to establish fraud under § 6653(b), it is not necessary to prove an evil motive or sinister purpose; rather, the facts need only establish an intention
