Taxable Talk

There’s a cliche I like, “If you don’t succeed, try, try again.” In the Bozo world things work a bit differently; for them it should be, “If you don’t succeed, stop!” Today, the Tax Court looked at Joseph Banister, an individual making his second appearance at the court. The petitioner had a B.S. in accounting, a CPA license from California, and worked for the IRS as a special agent in Criminal Investigations. He also wrote a book on taxes. He must know about tax law, right?

Well, his book titled “Investigating the Federal Income Tax: A Preliminary Report” is out of print. There’s likely a good reason for that:

In the book petitioner presented a variety of arguments that he and other citizens were not obligated to pay Federal income tax for reasons including that such payment was voluntary, that the Sixteenth Amendment was not legally ratified, and that Government financing operations are unconstitutional. Petitioner began providing tax consultation services, speaking at conventions throughout the country, operating Web sites, and selling books, CDs, and DVDs setting forth his views on income tax and the Internal Revenue Code.

The petitioner was disbarred from practicing before the IRS in December 2003, largely for advising taxpayers that they weren’t liable for income taxes because the 16th Amendment wasn’t legally ratified (and some other frivolous arguments). He appealed, both administratively and via the courts, and lost the appeals.

He also lost his California CPA license “…because of the conduct that led to his disbarment from practice before the IRS.” He appealed that and also lost those appeals.

Now, let’s move to today’s decision. From 2003-2006 the petitioner made money from consultations, speeches, books, and other activities; however, he never filed returns. The IRS examined the petitioner, but the petitioner didn’t cooperate. Eventually the IRS issued Substitute for Returns with income of between $87,000 and $177,000 for each of the four years.

At trial, the petitioner didn’t deny the income.

Instead, His arguments, his motions, his attempts to conduct discovery, and his cross-examination of respondent’s witnesses at trial have been directed to his claim that the statutory notice was invalid because it was not signed by an authorized person and that, as a result, this Court lacks jurisdiction over his case. In his pretrial memorandum he also asserted that his U.S. income was not subject to tax and that he had no obligation to file tax returns, repeating or restating the arguments that had led to his disqualification to practice before the IRS and his loss of his certified public accountant’s license…

Petitioner has a history of pursuing frivolous arguments and rejecting the conclusions of every agency or court that has considered them. His argument that domestic income is not subject to Federal income tax has been restated by him in various filings, but the same conclusion has been rejected as frivolous in his administrative proceedings and in the Court of Appeals’ opinion sustaining his disbarment by the OPR. No further discussion of petitioner’s stale theories is warranted.

Petitioner was not only accused of failing to file, he was assessed the fraudulent failure to file penalty. That penalty is a whopping 75% of the tax that is due.

The additions to tax for fraud have frequently been imposed on taxpayers like petitioner “who were knowledgeable about their taxpaying responsibilities * * * [and] consciously decided to unilaterally opt out of our system of taxation…Because petitioner refused to testify, he has shown no plausible nonfraudulent explanation for his behavior.”

Ouch. But that was not all:

Petitioner was warned of the possibility of a penalty under section 6673 if he persisted in his frivolous contentions. He has presented neither evidence nor arguments showing a reasonable dispute as to the income, tax, penalties, or additions to tax determined in the statutory notice. Under these circumstances, section 6673(a)(1) provides for a penalty not in excess of $25,000 when proceedings have been instituted or maintained by the taxpayer primarily for delay or where the taxpayer’s position is frivolous or groundless. Petitioner has been undeterred despite loss of his privilege to practice before the IRS, loss of his license as a certified public accountant, and other losses in litigation. Adding a penalty to his substantial tax debt may not dissuade him. However, serious sanctions also serve to warn other taxpayers, particularly those that he purports to counsel, to avoid pursuing similar tactics.

Yes, he was assessed a $25,000 penalty for being frivolous.

I don’t know if the petitioner has any other cases floating around the IRS or the Tax Court. If he does, he might want to change his tune. I can guarantee that the third time won’t be the charm, either. He did earn one other item today: The first nomination for the 2015 Tax Offender of the Year.

Case: Banister v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo 2015-10

This entry was posted on Monday, January 12th, 2015 at 3:28 pm and is filed under Tax Court. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.