Book Description

This is the online appendix to Townsend, John A., Tax Obstruction Crimes: Is Making the IRS's Job Harder Enough (July 1, 2009). Houston Business and Tax Law Journal, Vol. 9, No. 255, 2009. Available at SSRN: 'https://ssrn.com/abstract=2061018' https://ssrn.com/abstract=2061018The article for this appendix questions the potential mischief that can arise from the notion that conduct which makes the IRS's job harder is an obstruction type crime under the defraud / Klein conspiracy in 18 U.S.C. § 371 or, its tax code counterpart for the single actor, 26 U.S.C. § 7212(a) (the Omnibus Clause). The Appendix goes through some common audit profile lowering examples which might be characterized as making the IRS's job harder. Examples considered are:Example 1: Choosing the Standard Deduction When Itemized Deductions Are LargerExample 2: Claiming Fewer Deductions than Otherwise AvailableExample 3: Variation: Claiming Fewer Charitable DeductionsExample 4: Making the Amount of Charitable Deductions Based on Audit FactorsExample 5: Conforming Deductions to IRS Audit Models.Example 6: Follow the Forms StrategyExample 7: Planning Return Positions Based on the Taxpayer Civil Penalty RulesExample 8: Same Example with Preparer Penalty Rules in PlayExample 9: Failure to Disclose Where Even a Civil Penalty Would Not ApplyExample 10: Drafting Return Disclosure to Lower the Audit ProfileExample 11: Filing a Paper Return to Exploit IRS InefficienciesExample 12: IncorporatingExample 13: Filing a Return on ExtensionExample 14: Filing a Return That Incorrectly States the Economic Position of the TaxpayerExample 15: Resisting in an AuditExample 16: Noncompliance with SummonsExample 17: Noncompliance with Summons (Part 2)Example 18: Variation on Resisting an AuditExample 19: Structuring Transactions for less Visibility on AuditExample 20: Action to Delay via U.S. BankExample 21: Action to Delay via Foreign BankExample 22: Taking a Deduction as Schedule C Rather than Schedule AExample 23: Taking an Nol Carryover to a Later YearExample 24: Declining to Amend a Tax ReturnExample 25: Manipulating the SystemExample 26: Staging a Voluntary Disclosure.