When I start reading a Tax Court decision and see the sentence, “Petitioner and her husband derived considerable income from peddling this scheme to gullible individuals,” you know it’s not going to be a good day for petitioners. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Three years ago Ms. G had a Tax Court case on their 2004 income taxes which she lost. She appealed that decision and lost. The IRS wanted to collect the money, but the petitioner asked for a Collection Due Process (CDP) hearing with IRS Appeals. She had it, and lost that. She then appealed that result to the Tax Court. Based on income of $235,542 (of which no tax was paid), she owed $99,261 plus penalties and interest.
First, a little background on petitioner:
Petitioner and her husband are well-known tax shelter promoters with a lengthy history of litigation in this and other courts. Their speciality [sic] is the “corporation sole” tax shelter, whereby a taxpayer takes a fictitious “vow of poverty” in connection with a purported “church” and declares herself thenceforth immune from Federal income tax. Petitioner promoted this scheme by writing several books, including How to Protect Everything You Own in This Life and After and Corporation Sole vs. 501(c)(3) Corporation. Petitioner also practiced what she
preached: She and her husband established “Bethel Aram Ministries” in 1993, took fictitious “vows of poverty,” and have not filed a Federal income tax return since. [footnote omitted]
That’s not a good start. I’d like to pay no tax, but you need to be a real minister with a real vow of poverty to do so; imitations don’t work. At the CDP hearing, the IRS Appeals Officer noted that the law had been followed, and shockingly (not) that the taxpayer had still not submitted copies of 2005 to 2014 tax returns.
Well, her streak of non-filing is a bit more lengthy:
Petitioner did not request a collection alternative, and she did not supply the SO with the financial information necessary to enable him to consider one. Far from being in compliance with her ongoing tax filing obligations, she has not filed a Federal income tax return since 1993. The SO did not abuse his discretion in declining to consider a collection alternative under these circumstances…Finding no abuse of discretion in this or in any other respect, we will grant summary judgment for respondent and affirm the proposed collection action.
But the Tax Court wasn’t happy with the petitioner.
It is clear to us that petitioner has maintained this suit “primarily for delay” as part of her 25-year campaign to avoid or defer indefinitely the collection of her Federal income tax liabilities. Because our decision establishing her 2004 income tax liability became final more than three years ago, she had no plausible basis for challenging that liability through the CDP process. Her 30-page response to the motion for summary judgment includes only two paragraphs that bear any rational relationship to the issues this case presents. The vast bulk of that document is directed toward relitigation of the trial court and appellate decisions previously rendered against her. In that connection she advances numerous frivolous arguments, including assertions that the IRS “continues to lie and defame Petitioner” and that the Commissioner and the courts have conspired to deny her First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and religion.
The Tax Court assessed a Frivolous Position Penalty of $10,000.
Petitioner has wasted the resources of respondent’s counsel and this Court. We will accordingly require that she pay to the United States under section 6673(a) a penalty of $10,000. This opinion will serve as a warning that she risks a much larger penalty if she engages in similar tactics in the future.
Tax Court exists so that legitimate disputes between taxpayers and the IRS get resolved. The Tax Court has little sense of humor about frivolity. Given Ms. G’s consistent non-filing and delaying tactics, I suspect we will see her name in a future case with a section 6673(a) penalty of $25,000.