30 November, 2008

Tax Excuses 516 - 536

516. "I have been on a vow of poverty and make no income revenue" (he had purchased a house) [Matter of Anonymous, Dkt. No. 20442, Idaho State Tax Comm. (3 January 2008).].


517. "The taxpayer stated he was simply exercising his right to earn income, which is not a privilege and consequently the tax cannot apply to him" [Matter of Anonymous, Dkt. No. 20369, Idaho State Tax Comm. (10 January 2008).].


518. We are a small business, the tax payment was late due to an unintentional human error, and the £432.56 surcharge is rather excessive for being one day late [The Public Relations Co., Ltd. v. Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs (No. 20676, Manchester Tribunal Centre, 14 May 2008).].


519. I was in lower Manhattan on the day of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and I felt a deep sense of loss and an uncertainty as to the future of his own economic situation as well as the economy as a whole. Finally able to deal with these feelings of despair, I attempted to retrieve my financial documents only to discover that the building where they were kept was under quarantine and I was unable to gain access to the building. Only with the assistance of the Internal Revenue Service which provided him with the necessary documentation was he able to file his 2001 tax returns (the tax returns were not signed until 18 April 2006, and not filed until the next day) [Matter of Cornelius W. Thornton, New York State Div. of Tax Appeals, Docket No. DTA 821888, 26 June 2008).].


520. I did not and shall not file an income tax return. My account with the IRS for the income tax year of 2002 was closed on July 4, 2005, and my accout for the year of 2003 was closed on September 19, 2005 [Hawkins v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2008-168.].


521. The amount shown on the Form W-2 issued by my employer was erroneous because my employer does not understand the concept of income for purposes of taxation under the Internal Revenue Code [Lyle Lacey v. Indiana Dept. of State Revenue, Dkt. No. 49T10-0711-TA-70, 2008 Ind. Tax LEXIS 13 (8 July 2008).


522. I was overwhelmed by all the customers I had, I was totally inept in handling the financial aspects of my business, I could not even pay my utility bills on time, and I had unopened envelopes of cash lying around my home and office (Immigration & Customs Enforcement seized $898,629 in cash from him, including $474,745 in a safe in his house, $470 on the floor of his house, $3,231 from his wallet and $13,000 from his car.) [Robleto v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2008-195.].


523. The Bank of England had just switched to a new on-line payment system and I made a genuine and silly mistake by entering the wrong sort code for the transaction [T. G. Baynes v. Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs (No. 20764 London Tribunal Centre, 7 August 2008).].


524. After the IRS rejected our last offer to settle, I felt that there was no point in further trying to settle with the Government, and believed that this bankruptcy case was my last hope. I used my money to purchase art works instead of pay taxes because any payments would have little or no effect on the overall question of whether or not we could come to a reasonable number (her apartment, with its extensive artwork and furniture, was featured in two magazine articles) [In re Guben, 102 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 6014 , 2008 Bankr. LEXIS 2581 (Bankr., E.D.P.A., No. 07-407, 14 August 2008), 2008 TNT 163-2.].


525. "At trial, the Debtor testified that 'the IRS came at the bottom of his list along with three or four hundred thousand worth of other creditors' because they didn't 'scream loud enough' and that he would pay 'whichever creditors were yelling the loudest' and that his 'landlord, car payments and child support payments' were timely made so that his 'ex-wife wouldn't yell at me.'" [In re Colish, 289 B.R. 523, 536 (Bankr., E.D.N.Y., 2002).].


526. My mother had said that she was willing to help me get out of tax trouble by writing an installment payment check, but she changed her mind and said she would only help me if the IRS would agree to a single lump-sum payment to settle all of my tax liability [Bennett v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2008-251.].


527. My tax return was filed late because I am the caregiver to five of my grandchildren because one of my sons is serving in Iraq and the other suffers from spina bifida [Riley v. Commissioner, T.C. Summary Op. 2008-142.].


528. "Petitioner's only explanation of his failure to file a return for 2002 is that he did not want to sign a return saying that he was an independent contractor" (He had received $126,760 from his employer) [McWhorter v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2008-263.].


529. "Petitioner contends that he is not liable for an accuracy-related penalty with respect to these items because Form 1040 is a 'complicated return', and he utilized a tax software program to prepare his return" [Bunney v. Commissioner, 114 T.C. 259, 267 (2000).].


530. I was running a small business without administrative support [TR Shop Ltd. v. Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs (No. 20776, London Tribunal Centre, 15 August 2008).].


531. I was busy with my work after the Christmas break and only remembered to complete my VAT return on 3 January 2008 [Duncan J. W. Penny v. Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs (No. 20776, London Tribunal Centre, 15 August 2008).].


532. My father died on 1 October 2007 and I was involved in matters to deal with the funeral, burial and memorial until well into February (The due date was 29 February 2008, and the return, which was received on 25 March 2008, had been signed on 26 November 2007) [Solution Seekers Ltd. v. Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs (No. 20817, London Tribunal Centre, 3 October 2008).].


533. Our 2003 and 2004 tax returns demonstrate that we did not earn sufficient taxable income in 2005 or 2006 [Indiana Dept. of State Revenue, Letter of Findings No. 07-0055, Indiana Register, 20080430-IR-045080237NRA (30 April 2008).].


534. "[T]he flow of transactions at taxpayer's bank was such that the funds were insufficient at the point of attempted application." [Indiana Dept. of State Revenue, Letter of Findings No. 07-0459P, Indiana Register, 20080702-IR-045080496NRA (2 July 2008).].

535. The business owners had marital and medical problems during the tax years in question. [Indiana Dept. of State Revenue, Letter of Findings No. 08-0086P, Indiana Register, 20080702-IR-045080505NRA (2 July 2008).].

536. "Petitioner reasoned that there are two categories of persons; those persons who volunteer as 'taxpayers' and those who are 'non-taxpayers.' Petitioner admits that he had
previously but unwittingly volunteered to be a 'taxpayer' but that he has since rescinded that declaration and moved into the category of 'non-taxpayers.' Petitioner argues that only those persons who volunteer to pay taxes are subject to Indiana's adjusted gross income tax. Since he has since 'unvolunteered,' the Department's notice of proposed assessment is either irrelevant or invalid." [Indiana Dept. of State Revenue, Letter of Findings No. 08-0140, Indiana Register, 20080702-IR-045080516NRA (2 July 2008).].