F I L E D
United States Court of Appeals
Tenth Circuit
MAR 24 1997
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
TENTH CIRCUIT PATRICK FISHER
Clerk
EMMA TAYLOR,
Petitioner-Appellant,
v. No. 96-9000
COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL (T.C.. No. 17521-92)
REVENUE, (United States Tax Court)
(69 T.C.M. (CCH) 2932)
Respondent-Appellee.
THAD TAYLOR, JR.,
Petitioner-Appellant,
v. No. 96-9001
COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL (T.C. No. 17558-92)
REVENUE, (United States Tax Court)
(69 T.C.M. (CCH) 2932)
Respondent-Appellee.
ORDER AND JUDGMENT*
*
This order and judgment is not binding precedent, except under the
doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel. The court generally
disfavors the citation of orders and judgments; nevertheless, an order and judgment may
be cited under the terms and conditions of 10th Cir. R. 36.3.
Before TACHA, BALDOCK, and BRISCOE, Circuit Judges.**
Petitioners-Appellants Thad Taylor, Jr. and Emma Taylor, husband and wife, filed
joint federal Form 1040 income tax returns for the years 1982-1984. Taxpayers reported
total taxable income of $27,962 in 1982, $0 in 1983, and $1,674 in 1984.
Commissioner’s subsequent audit of those returns revealed that taxpayers omitted gross
receipts from Mr. Taylor’s dental business in excess of $240,000 per year. Commissioner
notified taxpayers of tax deficiencies, plus penalties and interest for fraud and substantial
understatements of tax liabilities. For the tax years 1982-1984, Commissioner assessed
taxpayers additional taxes owing in the amounts of $121,615, $131,927, and $114,093,
respectively. Pursuant to I.R.C. § 6653(b)(1) & (2), Commissioner further assessed
taxpayers penalties for fraud in the amounts of $60,808, $65,964, and $57,047,
respectively, plus 50% of the interest due on these amounts. Pursuant to I.R.C. § 6661,
Commissioner also assessed taxpayers penalties for substantial understatements of tax
liabilities in the amounts of $30,404, $32,982, and 28,523, respectively.
**
After examining the briefs and appellate records, this panel has determined
unanimously to honor the parties’ request for a decision on the briefs without oral
argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(f); 10th Cir. R. 34.1.9. These appeals therefore are
submitted without oral argument.
2
Taxpayers filed consolidated petitions in the United States Tax Court challenging
Commissioner’s foregoing assessments. Prior to trial, taxpayers stipulated to the
assessments of additional taxes owing for the years 1982-84, but continued to contest the
assessments for fraud and substantial understatements of tax liabilities. Following a
bench trial, the tax court delivered a thorough written opinion ruling for Commissioner in
all respects. Taylor v. Commissioner, 69 T.C.M. (CCH) 2932 (1995). The tax court’s
findings of fact are well supported by the record, and we need not reiterate them here
except to the extent necessary in our substantive discussion of the issues. Taxpayers raise
the following issues on appeal: (1) whether the tax court improperly relied on taxpayers’
assertion of their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination to find that taxpayers
fraudulenty omitted income from their tax returns;1 (2) whether the tax court improperly
imputed Mrs. Taylor’s intent to Mr. Taylor; and (3) whether the tax court improperly
provided a basis for Commissioner’s failure to waive the penalties for substantial
understatements of tax liabilities. Our jurisdiction to review these matters arises under
I.R.C. § 7482 and Fed. R. App. P. 13. We affirm.
1
Because Mrs. Taylor pled guilty under 26 U.S.C. § 7201 to federal income
tax evasion for the year 1982, she is collaterally estopped in this civil proceeding from
denying fraud under I.R.C. § 6653(b) for the year 1982. Klein v. Commissioner, 880 F.2d
260, 262 & n.2 (10th Cir. 1989).
3
I.
Subsection 6653(b)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, applicable here,
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.” Subsection (b)(2) provides for an interest penalty based on the amount
assessed under subsection (b)(1). Commissioner has the burden of proving fraud by clear
and convincing evidence. I.R.C. § 7454(a). Where a joint return is involved,
Commissioner must establish fraud as to each spouse before the court may hold both
spouses accountable. 26 C.F.R. § 301.6653-1(f). Fraud requires an “actual, intentional
wrongdoing, and the intent required is the specific purpose to evade a tax believed to be
owing.” Zell v. Commissioner, 763 F.2d 1139, 1142-43 (10th Cir. 1985) (internal
quotations omitted). “The required state of mind is one which, if translated into action, is
well calculated to cheat or deceive the government.” Heyen v. United States, 945 F.2d
359, 364 (10th Cir. 1991) (internal quotations omitted).
In these cases, the tax court heard the evidence and made the following findings
regarding taxpayers’ conduct:
While the mere understatement of income alone is not sufficient to
prove fraud, the consistent and substantial understatement of income is, of
itself, strong evidence of fraud. Petitioners herein admit that they
underreported their total tax due for all the years in issue. In fact,
petitioners reported less than 5 percent of tax due on their joint Federal
income tax returns for each of the years at issue.
4
The understatements of income tax are the direct result of
petitioners’ omission of substantial gross receipts from the dental business
of petitioner [Thad Taylor, Jr.]. We find, despite petitioners’ assertions to
the contrary, that petitioners intentionally omitted income received from
petitioners’ arrangement with associate dentists. Although all checks in
payment for the services of the associate dentists were made out directly to
the associate who performed the work, they were always deposited in
petitioners’ joint bank account. Only then did petitioners pay the associate
dentists their percentage of the fee. Petitioners never included the money
deposited in their joint account on the summary sheets for the return
preparer. Petitioners did not, however, neglect to deduct the money
returned to the associate dentists. By omitting income received and
including only the expense of paying the associate dentists, petitioners were
able to avoid inclusion of the money in income for the year and, moreover,
were able to deduct the amount paid to the associate dentists. We further
note that it appears to be no coincidence that the moneys not reported were
moneys for which Forms 1099 would not be issued in petitioners’ names
but instead were issued in the name of the associate dentist to whom the
insurance company made out the check.
Although Emma Taylor was primarily in charge of the receipt books
and compiling the summary sheets for the accountant, petitioner [Thad
Taylor, Jr.] was involved in creating the accounting system and in helping
to compile information for the summary sheets. It was also petitioner who
delivered the summary sheets to the accountant when they were ready.
Furthermore, petitioner had ultimate authority over the records in his office.
Neither petitioner nor Emma Taylor was willing to cooperate with
the revenue agent in her investigation. We decline to believe the incredible
testimony of petitioners that they supplied all of the records to the revenue
agent. It is the testimony of the special agent that the receipt books, critical
to the determination, were not made available. This is supported by the
indisputable evidence that it was only after a summons was issued and
enforced by a court that the receipt books were provided. In light of this
evidence, we must conclude that petitioners did not cooperate in the
investigation despite their protestations to the contrary.
We find that respondent has carried her burden as to the issue of
fraud against both petitioners.
5
Taylor v. Commissioner, 69 T.C.M. (CCH) 2932, 2936-37 (1995) (internal citations
omitted). We review the tax court’s factual findings under a clearly erroneous standard
and review its legal conclusions de novo. We review mixed questions of law and fact
under one of these two standards depending on whether the question is primarily factual
or legal. Anderson v. Commissioner, 62 F.d. 1266, 1270 (10th Cir. 1995).
Taxpayers assert that the tax court improperly found they failed to cooperate with
Commissioner in the civil investigation because they failed to provide the special agent
with the receipt books from the dental business. Taxpayers claim they invoked their Fifth
Amendment right against self-incrimination in failing to provide the receipt books. To be
sure, once the special agent referred the investigation to Commissioner’s criminal
division, taxpayers’ attorney specifically invoked the Fifth Amendment on his clients’
behalf. The United States District Court then granted taxpayers use immunity and
enforced a summons demanding delivery of the receipt books. But the facts indicate that
taxpayers failed to provide the receipt books well before they or their attorney invoked the
Fifth Amendment. The record supports the tax court’s findings that taxpayers failed to
cooperate with Commissioner from the beginning of the civil investigation. Taxpayers
did not claim any Fifth Amendment privilege until they became the subject of a criminal
investigation six months after the special agent conducting the civil investigation initially
requested the receipt books.
6
During October or November of 1985, the Internal Revenue Service
began examining petitioners’ Federal income tax liabilities for the years at
issue. On November 7, 1985, a revenue agent served an information
document request on petitioners. The request specifically asked that
petitioners provide the receipt books. In addition to the formal written
request, the revenue agent orally requested the receipt books from both
petitioners on at least one occasion at the dental office. Petitioners
repeatedly told the revenue agent that at least some of the requested receipt
books had been lost in a flood. Petitioners located and had available those
few receipt books which had been affected by the flood “a month or so”
after petitioners’ first meeting with the revenue agent. All such affected
receipt books remained legible. Neither petitioner ever told the revenue
agent that all the receipt books were available.
Taylor, 69 T.C.M. at 2935. Taxpayers did not invoke their Fifth Amendment privilege
until, at the earliest, May 1, 1986. That was the day the criminal investigator asked
taxpayers for the receipt books. We conclude that the tax court did not improperly rely on
taxpayers’ assertion of their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination to find that
taxpayers fraudulently omitted income from their income tax returns.2 The tax court
referred to the district court’s enforcement of the criminal summons simply to buttress its
finding that taxpayers failed to cooperate with Commissioner from the beginning of the
civil investigation .3
2
The record on appeal does not contain the criminal summons. The record
and briefs suggest, however, that the summons may have been directed at Mr. Taylor
only. If in fact the summons only requested production of the receipt books from Mr.
Taylor and not Mrs. Taylor, Mrs. Taylor has no standing to assert a Fifth Amendment
right in the receipt books because the government did not ask her to produce them. cf..
Donaldson v. United States, 400 U.S. 517, 530-31 (1971); United States v. Bray, 546 F.2d
851, 855 (10th Cir. 1976).
3
Having said all this, quite possibly taxpayers had no Fifth Amendment
privilege in the receipt books. “[The Fifth Amendment protects the person asserting the
7
Moreover, the tax court did not rely on taxpayers’ failure to cooperate alone to find
they acted fraudulently. While failure to cooperate certainly is an indicia of fraud, Zell v.
Commissioner, 763 F.2d 1139, 1146 (10th Cir. 1985), other indicators are the (1)
consistent and substantial understatement of income, (2) failure to maintain adequate
records, (3) inconsistent or implausible explanations of behavior, and (4) awareness of the
obligation to file returns, report income, and pay taxes. Dodge v. Commissioner, 899
F.2d 164, 168 (2d Cir. 1990). In addition to taxpayers’ failure to cooperate, the tax court
cited factors one, three, and four in concluding that Commissioner had proven taxpayers’
fraud by clear and convincing evidence. Taylor, 69 T.C.M. at 2936-37. Because the tax
court’s findings of fact are not clearly erroneous and its legal conclusion based on those
facts is sound, we will not disturb the tax court’s judgment.
II.
Mr. Taylor argues that he relied entirely on his wife and accountant to properly
privilege only from compelled self-incrimination. Where the preparation of business
records is voluntary, no compulsion is present.” United States v. Doe, 465 U.S. 605, 610
(1984) (emphasis in original) (internal citation omitted). In this instance, taxpayers
voluntarily created the receipt books, and thus the books’ contents are not privileged
under the Fifth Amendment. Id. at 612. But while the contents of the receipt books may
not be privileged, the act of producing them was subject to Fifth Amendment privilege to
the extent that the books remained in the possession of the taxpayers. Id. at 612-17. To
the extent the receipt books were in the hands of taxpayers’ attorney, the attorney-client
privilege might serve to protect their production, but the Fifth Amendment does not.
Fisher v. United States, 425 U.S. 391, 402 (1976) (“compelled production of documents
from an attorney does not implicate whatever Fifth Amendment privilege the taxpayer
might have enjoyed from being compelled to produce them himself”).
8
report the income from his dental business. He claims nothing in the record supports the
tax court’s finding that he attempted to defraud Commissioner. As we previously
explained, Commissioner must establish fraud as to one spouse independent of the other
before holding the former spouse liable under I.R.C. § 6653(b). Treasury Regulation
§ 301.6653-1(f) provides:
(f) Joint returns. No person filing a joint return shall be held liable
for a fraud penalty except for his own personal fraudulent conduct. Thus,
for the fraud penalty to apply to a taxpayer who files a joint return some
part of the underpayment in such return must be due to the fraud of such
taxpayer. A taxpayer shall not be subject to the fraud penalty solely by
reason of the fraud of a spouse and his filing of a joint return with such
spouse.
26 C.F.R. § 301.6653-1(f).
Nothing in the tax court’s opinion indicates that the court imputed Mrs. Taylor’s
fraudulent conduct to Mr. Taylor. Rather, the tax court acknowledged the governing law,
and found Mr. Taylor independently liable for fraud. While Mr. Taylor denied any
knowledge of any wrongdoing, and the tax court was free to accept his story, the court
expressly stated that it did not believe Mr. Taylor. In addition to finding that Mr. Taylor
had created the accounting system for his dental business and assisted his wife in
compiling the summary sheets for their accountant, the tax court noted, among other
things, that Mr. Taylor (1) had been licensed to practice dentistry since 1963, (2) had
served as an infantry captain in the United States Army where his duties included
counting and disbursing payroll funds each month to over 300 soldiers under his
9
command, and (3) had filed an income tax return for more than twenty five years. Taylor,
69 T.C.M. at 2933-34. Although Mr. Taylor testified that he did not understand the
federal income tax, he “was unable at trial to explain exactly what he did not understand
about the federal income tax forms.” Id. at 2934-35. We conclude that the tax court did
not improperly impute Mrs. Taylor’s fraudulent conduct to Mr. Taylor, but rather found
Mr. Taylor independently liable for fraud upon ample proof.
III.
Finally, taxpayers assert that the tax court improperly provided a basis for
Commissioner’s failure to waive the penalties for substantial underpayment of tax
liabilities. Section 6661 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 provides generally that
“[i]f there is a substantial understatement of income tax for any taxable year, there shall
be added to the tax an amount equal to 25 percent of the amount of any underpayment
attributable to such understatement.” I.R.C. § 6661(a).4 Commissioner, however, may
waive an understatement penalty if the taxpayer shows good faith and establishes
reasonable cause for the understatement. I.R.C. § 6661(c).
4
Subsection (b) of I.R.C. § 6661 defines a substantial understatement as the
amount greater than 10% of the tax required to be shown on the tax return, or $5,000,
whichever is larger.
10
In this instance, the tax court concluded that the facts established Commissioner
did not abuse her discretion in denying taxpayers a § 6661(c) waiver. Taxpayers now
claim that Commissioner did not give any reason for denying taxpayers a waiver, and thus
abused her discretion by failing to exercise her discretion. Fisher v. Commissioner, 45
F.d. 396, 397 (10th Cir. 1995) (“By failing to rule specifically on the request for waiver
and by failing to offer any reasons for her decision, the Commissioner failed to
demonstrate that she had exercised her discretion and thereby abused that discretion.”).
The problem with taxpayers’ argument is that nowhere in the record can we find
where they specifically requested a § 6661(c) waiver from Commissioner. Taxpayers
claim in their brief that they requested a waiver by letter, but never have they moved to
supplement the record with the letter, and it is too late to do so now. As we stated in
McCoy Enterprises, Inc. v. Commissioner, 58 F.d. 557, 563 (10th Cir. 1995):
[Before we can review the Commissioner’s refusal to waive an
understatement penalty pursuant to 26 U.S.C. § 6661(c), the record must
reveal (1) that the Commissioner knows a taxpayer is claiming that the
understatement should be excused by reasonable cause and good faith; (2)
that the taxpayer’s request has been presented with sufficient evidentiary
support; and (3) that the Commissioner actually makes a determination on
the issue.
Because taxpayers have not demonstrated they presented their objections to the
understatement penalties to Commissioner with sufficient evidentiary support, we
11
cannot conclude that Commissioner abused her discretion by failing to waive the
penalties.5
For all the foregoing reasons, the judgment of the United States Tax Court is
AFFIRMED.
Entered for the Court,
Bobby R. Baldock
Circuit Judge
5
In any event, our review of the record indicates it is highly unlikely that
taxpayers could meet their burden of proving they acted in good faith and with reasonable
cause in understating their income for the tax years 1982-84 where they have been held
liable for attempting to defraud Commissioner as to their actual income for those years.
12