Can A Taxpayer Be Responsible For Tax Preparer Fraud?

 

We are familiar with the statute of limitations. In general, the SoL means that you have three years to file a return, information important to know if you are due a refund. Likewise, the IRS has three years to audit or otherwise adjust your return, important to them if you owe additional tax.

The reason for the SoL is simple: it has to end sometime, otherwise the system could not function.  Could it be four years instead of three? Of course, and some states use four years. Still, the concept stands: the ferris wheel must stop so all parties can dismount.

A huge exception to the SoL is fraud. File a fraudulent return and the SoL never starts.

Odds are, neither you nor I are too sympathetic to someone who files a fraudulent return. I will point out, however, that not all knuckleheaded returns are necessarily fraudulent. For example, I am representing an IRS audit of a 2020 Schedule C (think self-employed). It has been one of the most frustrating audits of my career, and much of it is self-inflicted. I know the examiner had wondered how close the client was to the f-word; I could hear it in her word selection, pausing and voice. We spoke again Friday, and I could tell that she had moved away from that thought. There is no need to look for fraud when being a knucklehead suffices.

Here is a question for you:

You do not commit fraud but your tax preparer does. It could be deductions or credits to which you are not entitled. You do not look at the return too closely; after all, that is why you pay someone. He/she however did manage to get you the refund he/she had promised. Can you be held liable for his/her fraud?

Let’s look at the Allen case.

Allen was a truck driver for UPS. He had timely filed his tax return for the years 1999 and 2000. He gave all his tax documents to his tax preparer (Goosby) and then filed the resulting return with the IRS.

Mr. Goosby however had been juicing Allen’s itemized deductions: contributions, meals, computer, and other expenses. He must have been doing quite a bit of this, as the Criminal Investigations Division (CID, pronounced “Sid”) got involved.

COMMENT: CID is the part of the IRS that carries a gun. You want nothing to do with those guys.

Allen was a good guy, and he agreed with the IRS that there were bogus numbers on his return.

He did not agree that the tax years were open, though. The IRS notice of deficiency was sent in 2005 – that is, outside the normal three years. Allen felt that the tax years had closed.

He had a point.

However, look at Section 6501(c):

§ 6501 Limitations on assessment and collection.

(c)  Exceptions.

(1)  False return.

In the case of a false or fraudulent return with the intent to evade tax, the tax may be assessed, or a proceeding in court for collection of such tax may be begun without assessment, at any time.

The Court pointed out that the law mentions a “false or fraudulent return.” It does not say that the fraud must be the taxpayer’s.

The year was open, and Allen owed the additional tax.

I get it. There is enough burden on the IRS when fraud is involved, and the Court was not going to add to the burden by reading into tax law that fraud be exclusively the taxpayer’s responsibility.

The IRS had helped its case, by the way, and the Court noticed.

How?

The IRS had not assessed penalties. All it wanted was additional tax plus interest.

I wish we could see more of that IRS and less of the automatic penalty dispenser that it has unfortunately become.

Allen reminds us to be careful when selecting a tax preparer. It is not always about getting the “largest” refund. Let’s be honest: for many if not most of us, there is a “correct” tax number. It is not as though we have teams of attorneys and CPAs sifting through vast amounts of transactions, all housed in different companies and travelling through numerous foreign countries and treaties before returning home to us. Anything other than that “correct” number is … well, a wrong number.  

Our case this time was Allen v Commissioner, 128 T.C. 4 (U.S.T.C. 2007).

The Consistent Basis Rule

 

I was talking to two brothers last week who are in a partnership with their two sisters. The partnership in turn owns undeveloped land, which it sold last year. The topic of the call was the partnership’s basis in the land, considering that land ownership had been divided in two and the partnership sold the property after the death of the two original owners. Oh, and there was a trust in there, just to add flavor to the stew.

Let’s talk about an issue concerning the basis of property inherited from an estate.

Normally basis means the same as cost, but not always. Say for example that you purchased a cabin in western North Carolina 25 years ago. You paid $250 grand for it. You have made no significant improvements to the cabin. At this moment your basis is your cost, which is $250 grand.

Let’s add something: you die. The cabin is worth $750 grand.

The basis in the cabin resets to $750 grand. That means – if your beneficiaries sell it right away – there should be no – or minimal – gain or loss from the sale. This is a case where basis does not equal cost, and practitioners refer to it as the “mark to market,” or just “mark” rule, for inherited assets.

There are, by the way, some assets that do not mark. A key one is retirement assets, such as 401(k)s and IRAs.

A possible first mark for the siblings’ land was in the 1980s.

A possible second mark was in the aughts.

And since the property was divided in half, a given half might not gone through both marks.

There is something in estate tax called the estate tax exemption. This is a threshold, and only decedents’ estates above that threshold are subject to tax. The threshold for 2024 is $13.6 million per person and is twice that if one is married.

That amount is scheduled to come down in 2026 unless Congress changes the law. I figure that the new amount will be about $7 million. And twice that, of course, if one is married.

COMMENT: I am a tax CPA, but I am not losing sleep over personal estate taxes.

However, the exemption thresholds have not always been so high. Here are selected thresholds early in my career: 

		Estate Tax
Year		Exclusion
1986		500,000
1987- 1997		600,000
1998		625,000

I would argue that those levels were ridiculously low, as just about anyone who was savings-minded could have been exposed to the estate tax. That is – to me, at least – absurd on its face.

One of our possible marks was in the 1980s, meaning that we could be dealing with that $500,000 or $600,000 estate threshold.

So what?

Look at the following gibberish from the tax Code. It is a bit obscure, even for tax practitioners.

Prop Reg 1.1014-10(c):

               (3) After-discovered or omitted property.

(i)  Return under section 6018 filed. In the event property described in paragraph (b)(1) of this section is discovered after the estate tax return under section 6018 has been filed or otherwise is omitted from that return (after-discovered or omitted property), the final value of that property is determined under section (c)(3)(i)(A) or (B) of this section.

(A) Reporting prior to expiration of period of limitation on assessment. The final value of the after-discovered or omitted property is determined in accordance with paragraph (c)(1) or (2) of this section if the executor, prior to the expiration of the period of limitation on assessment of the tax imposed on the estate by chapter 11, files with the IRS an initial or supplemental estate tax return under section 6018 reporting the property.

(B) No reporting prior to expiration of period of limitation on assessment. If the executor does not report the after-discovered or omitted property on an initial or supplemental Federal estate tax return filed prior to the expiration of the period of limitation on assessment of the tax imposed on the estate by chapter 11, the final value of that unreported property is zero. See Example 3 of paragraph (e) of this section.

(ii) No return under section 6018 filed. If no return described in section 6018 has been filed, and if the inclusion in the decedent's gross estate of the after-discovered or omitted property would have generated or increased the estate's tax liability under chapter 11, the final value, for purposes of section 1014(f), of all property described in paragraph (b) of this section is zero until the final value is determined under paragraph (c)(1) or (2) of this section. Specifically, if the executor files a return pursuant to section 6018(a) or (b) that includes this property or the IRS determines a value for the property, the final value of all property described in paragraph (b) of this section includible in the gross estate then is determined under paragraph (c)(1) or (2) of this section.

This word spill is referred to as the consistent basis rule.

An easy example is leaving an asset (intentionally or not) off the estate tax return.

Now there is a binary question:

Would have including the asset in the estate have caused – or increased – the estate tax?

If No, then no harm, no foul.

If Yes, then the rule starts to hurt.

Let’s remain with an easy example: you were already above the estate exemption threshold, so every additional dollar would have been subject to estate tax.

What is your basis as a beneficiary in that inherited property?

Zero. It would be zero. There is no mark as the asset was not reported on an estate tax return otherwise required to be filed.

If you are in an estate tax situation, the consistent basis rule makes clear the importance of identifying and reporting all assets of your estate. This becomes even more important when your estate is not yet at – but is approaching – the level where a return is required.

At $13.6 million per person, that situation is not going to affect many CPAs.

When the law changes again in a couple of years, it may affect some, but again not too many, CPAs.

But what if Congress returns the estate exemption to something ridiculous – perhaps levels like we saw in the 80s and 90s?

Well, the consistent basis rule could start to bite.

What are the odds?

Well, this past week I was discussing the basis of real estate inherited in the 1980s.

What are the odds?

Not Quite The Informal Claim Doctrine

 

I am looking at a district court opinion from Illinois.

I find the discussion of the numbers a bit confusing. It happens sometimes.

But there something here we should talk about.

We have recently discussed the tax concept of a “claim.” In normal-person-speak, it means you want the government to refund your money. The classic claim is an amended income tax return, but there can be claims for other-than-income taxes. It is its own niche, as using the wrong form can result in having your claim rejected.

Let’s look at the American Guardian Holdings case.

AGH filed its 2015 tax return on September 19, 2016.

Here are the numbers on the original tax return:     

	Original
Revenues	152,092,338
Taxable income	4,880,521
Tax	1,327,806

 The accountant found an error and amended the return on June 6, 2019.

			First
	Original		Original	Amended
Revenues	152,092,338		152,092,338	154,808,792
Taxable income	4,880,521		4,880,521	11,084,397
Tax	1,327,806		1,327,806	148,243
Refund				(1,179,563)

Let me see: The 2015 return would have been extended to October 15, 2016. The amended return was prepared June 6, 2019. Yep, we are within the statute of limitations.

Problem: AGH never sent the amended return.

Answer: AGH hired a new accountant.

The new accountant filed an amended return on September 19, 2019.

COMMENT: Still a few days left on the statute.

For some reason, the accountant incorporated the first amended (even though it had not been filed) into the second amended, resulting in the following hodgepodge:

		First		Second
		Original	Amended	Original	Amended
Revenues		154,808,792	141,773,572	154,808,792	?
Taxable income		11,084,397	7,446,746	11,084,397	?
Tax		1,327,806	148,243	1,327,806	0
Refund			(1,179,563)		(148,243)
Total refund					(1,327,806)

Huh? I would find that second amended confusing. On first impression it appears that AGH is filing a claim for $148,243, but that is incorrect. AGH was stacking the second amended on top of its first. AGH is filing a claim for $1,327,806, which is the entire tax on the original return.

Not surprisingly, the IRS also responded with “huh?” It could not process the second amended return because the “Original” numbers did not match its records.

AGH responded by filing yet another amended return (third amended). Mind you, at this point it was after October 15, 2019, and the statute of limitations was in the rear view mirror.

AGH did the following:

(1)  AGH explained that the new and shiny (third) amended return incorporated the previously (non-filed) first amended return and the second (actually filed) amended return. As a consequence, the “previously-filed amended return for 2015 should be discarded.”

COMMENT: NO! 

(2)  AGH further explained that it was filing Form 1120-PC (a specialized tax form for property and casualty insurance companies) as its third amended return rather than the Form 1120 originally filed because it had received permission to change its method of accounting.

COMMENT: NO!!

I am somewhat shocked at how deep a hole AGH had dug, and more shocked that it kept digging.

Let’s go through the wreckage:

(1)  AGH filed its (second) amended return/claim within the statute of limitations.

(2)  This creates an issue if the claim is imperfect, as one would be perfecting the claim AFTER the statute expires. Fortunately, there is a way (called the informal claim doctrine) that allows one to perfect a claim after the original filing date and still retain the benefit of that original date. 

(3)  The IRS immediately seized on the “previously-filed amended return for 2015 should be discarded” statement to argue that AGH had violated the informal claim doctrine.  If the second amended return was discarded, there was no timely-filed return to which the informal claim doctrine could attach. Fortunately, the Court decided that the use of the word “discard” did not actually mean what it sounded like. AGH dodged a bullet, but it should never have fired.

(4)  That leaves the third amended return, which was filed after the statute expired. AGH of course argued informal claim, but it had committed a fatal act by changing its method of accounting. You see, the informal claim allows one to clarify, document and explain whatever issue is vague or in dispute within the claim at issue. What one is not allowed to do is to change the facts. AGH had changed the facts by changing its method of accounting, meaning its third amended return could not be linked to the second via the informal claim doctrine.

(5)  Standing on its own, the third amended of course failed as it was filed after the statute had expired.    

This case is a nightmare. I am curious whether there was a CPA or law firm involved; if so, a malpractice suit is almost a given. If the work was done in-house, then … AGH needs to tighten up its hiring standards. The case reads like there were no adults in the room.

All is not lost for AGH, however.

Remember that AGH filed its second amended return within the statute of limitations.  The matter then went off the rails and the Court booted the third amended return.

But that leaves the second amended. Can AGH resuscitate it, as technically the Court dismissed the third claim but not necessarily the second?  It would likely require additional litigation and associated legal fees, and I would expect the IRS to fight tooth and nail. AGH would have to weigh the cost-benefit.

Our case this time was American Guardian Holdings, Inc v United States of America, No. 1:2023cv 01482, Northern District of Illinois.

Incorrect Submission Leads to Dismissal of Refund Claim

 

You should be able to talk with someone at the IRS and work it out over the phone.”

I have lost track of how many times I have heard that over the years.

I do not disagree, and sometimes it works out. Many times it does not, and we recently went through a multi-year period when the IRS was barely working at all.

There are areas of tax practice that are riddled with landmines. Procedure - when certain things have to be done in a certain way or within a certain timeframe – is one of them. Ignore those letters long enough and you have an invitation to Tax Court. You do not have to go, but the IRS will – and automatically win.

I was looking at a case recently involving a claim.

Tax practitioners generally know claims under a different term – an amended return. If you amend your individual tax return for a refund, you use Form 1040X, for example.

There are certain taxes, including penalties and interest, however, for which you will use a different form. 

Frankly, one can have a lengthy career and rarely use this form. It depends – of course – on one’s clients and their tax situations.

And yes, there is a serious procedural trap here – two, in fact. If you use this form but the IRS has instructed use of a different form, the 843 claim will be invalid. You will be requested to resubmit the claim using the correct form. By itself it is little more than an annoyance, unless one is close to the expiration of the statute of limitations. If that statute expires before you file the correct form, you are out of luck.

There is another trap.

Let’s look at the Vensure case.

Vensure is a professional employer organization, or PEO. This means that they perform HR, including payroll responsibilities, for their clients. They will, for example, issue your paycheck and send you a W-2 at the end of the tax year.

Vensure had a client that stiffed them for approximately $4 million. As you can imagine, this put Vensure in a precarious financial situation, and they had trouble making timely payroll tax deposits in later quarters.

I bet.

Vensure did two things:

(1)  They filed amended payroll tax returns (Forms 941X) for refund of payroll taxes remitted to the IRS on behalf of their deadbeat client.

(2)  They submitted Forms 843 for refund of penalties paid over the span of six quarters (payroll taxes are filed quarterly).

Notice two things:

(1)  The claim for refund of the payroll taxes themselves was filed on Form 941X, as the IRS has said that is the proper form to use.

(2)  The claim for refund of the penalties on those taxes was filed on Form 843, as the IRS has said that is the proper form for the refund or abatement of penalties, interest, and other additions to tax.

Vensure’s attorney prepared the 843s. Having a power of attorney on file with the IRS, the attorney signed the forms on behalf of the taxpayer, as well as signing as the paid preparer. He did not attach a copy of the power to the 843, however, figuring that the IRS already had it on file.

Makes sense.

But procedure sometimes makes no sense.

Take a look at the following instructions to Form 843:

You can file Form 843 or your authorized representative can file it for you. If your authorized representative files Form 843, the original or copy of Form 2848, Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative, must be attached. You must sign Form 2848 and authorize the representative to act on your behalf for the purposes of the request.” 

The IRS bounced the claims.

The taxpayer took the IRS to court.

The IRS had a two-step argument:

(1) For a refund claim to be duly filed, the claim’s statement of the facts and grounds for refund must be verified by a written declaration that it is made under penalties of perjury. A claim which does not comply with this requirement will not be considered for any purpose as a claim for refund or credit. 

(2)  Next take a look at Reg 301.6402-2(c):  

Form for filing claim. If a particular form is prescribed on which the claim must be made, then the claim must be made on the form so prescribed. For special rules applicable to refunds of income taxes, see §301.6402-3. For provisions relating to credits and refunds of taxes other than income tax, see the regulations relating to the particular tax. All claims by taxpayers for the refund of taxes, interest, penalties, and additions to tax that are not otherwise provided for must be made on Form 843, "Claim for Refund and Request for Abatement."

Cutting through the legalese, claims made on Form 843 must follow the instructions for Form 843, one of which is the requirement for an original or copy of Form 2848 to be attached.

Vensure of course argued that it substantially complied, as a copy of the power was on file with the IRS.

Not good enough, said the Court:

The court agrees with the defendant that the signature and verification requirements for Form 843 claims for refund are statutory.”

Vensure lost on grounds of procedure.

Is it fair?

There are areas in tax practice where things must be done in a certain way, in a certain order and within a certain time.

Fair has nothing to do with it.

Our case this time was Vensure HR, Inc v The United States, No 20-728T, 2023 U.S. Claims.