Author archives: david

A Writ of Coram Nobis Can Be Obtained If the Taxpayer Is No Longer in Custody. Taxpayer sought to vacate his income tax evasion conviction pursuant to 7201 to avoid being deported. The Court Found That Taxpayer Was Aware of the Immigration Issues and Failed to Timely Seek Appropriate Relief.

The Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program continues to be offered by the IRS to encourage taxpayers who have failed to accurately report funds held in foreign bank accounts and income derived abroad to make full disclosure and avoid potential criminal sanctions

Misjoinder of Counts of Mail Fraud with Tax Evasion Led to Reversal. There was no evidence at trial of any affirmative act to evade taxes by defendant beyond a mere failure to file tax returns for calendar years 1996 and 1997. The misjoinder prejudicially affected the jury's deliberations on each of the counts. The evidence as to both counts was not overwhelming and the district court gave no limiting instructions.

Two sentencing enhancements imposed by the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois were upheld as to a Defendant, who pled guilty to conspiracy to defraud, impede, impair, obstruct, and defeat the functions of the IRS in the collection of income taxes, 18 U.S.C.S. § 371, tax evasion, 26 U.S.C.S. § 7201, and false statements to revenue agents, 18 U.S.C.S. § 1001, concerning his residence and employment.

Three lawyers and an accountant were found guilty of conspiracy and tax evasion in the Southern District of New York.

Tax Offenses Held to be Aggravated Felonies that Support Deportation

Plea agreements often call for the Defendant to plead guilty to certain counts of the indictment and for the government to dismiss the remaining counts. Occasionally, the government asserts that the Defendant has violated the plea agreement and the United States seeks to re-indict the counts it has dismissed. However, if this occurs after the defendant has been sentenced and has served his sentence, due process requires the government to move for the Court to declare the defendant in violation of the plea agreement and grant the government leave to convene the grand jury to re-indict the defendant on the charges previously dismissed. The government cannot summarily declare the defendant in breach of the plea agreement and re-indict him without a determination by the court. This situation occurred in the following tax case.

The recommended sentence under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines for one or more tax violations is largely determined by the calculated tax loss. State taxes may be included in the calculation. Cash expenditures, under certain circumstances, may be excluded from the calculation. The Federal Sentencing Guidelines do not make a distinction between felony tax violations and misdemeanor tax violations. As a result, a taxpayer found not guilty of the felony counts but guilty of the misdemeanor counts may serve the same amount of time as if convicted for a felony. This occurs when the Court orders that the misdemeanor sentences be served consecutively instead of concurrently.

In case charging wire fraud, tax evasion, aggravated identity theft, and money laundering, the Government established that Defendant committed a fraudulent scheme to acquire money but, did not present evidence that proved that the Defendant attempted to conceal the funds to evade taxes. Further, to prove charges of wire fraud, proof of use of the internet alone is insufficient to establish that information was sent across state lines and, to prove aggravated identity theft, the Government must prove the Defendant knew the victim was a real person.

Petitioner aliens were convicted of offenses relating to a false tax return, and the aliens were ordered removed by respondent U.S. Attorney General for being convicted of aggravated felonies involving fraud or deceit under 8 U.S.C.S. § 1101 (a)(43)