Amos v. Comm'r of Internal Revenue
| Decision Date | 21 October 1964 |
| Docket Number | Docket No. 4476-62. |
| Citation | 43 T.C. 50 |
| Parties | JOHN W. AMOS, PETITIONER, v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, RESPONDENT |
| Court | U.S. Tax Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Fortescue W. Hopkins, for the petitioner.
W. B. Riley, for the respondent.
Held, petitioner's conviction for willful attempted evasion of income taxes for the years 1955 through 1958 in violation of section 7201, I.R.C. 1954, necessarily carries with it the ultimate factual determination that a part of the resulting deficiencies for those years was ‘due to fraud’ within the purview of section 6653(b), I.R.C. 1954. Eugene Vassallo, 23 T.C. 656 (1955), distinguished. Meyer J. Safra, 30 T.C. 1026 (1958), not followed.
This proceeding is before us for disposition on the basis of separate motions for judgment on the pleadings filed by the parties. The sole issue posed by these motions is whether a judgment of conviction on a charge of willfully attempting to evade or defeat income tax by understating his income, submitting a false statement of his income, and by filing a false and fraudulent income tax return, is conclusive and binding on the convicted taxpayer so that in a subsequent proceeding in this Court the doctrine of collateral estoppel, or estoppel by judgment, is applicable to preclude him from denying that a part of the underpayment for the same taxable year is due to fraud.
All of the material facts necessary for resolution of this issue are established in the record by the allegations of fact and admissions contained in the respective pleadings of the parties, including the exhibits attached thereto. The parties have agreed that this case may be disposed of on the basis of the action taken upon the pending motions.
John W. Amos (hereinafter referred to as petitioner) is an individual residing at Hardy, in Franklin County, Va. His individual income tax returns for the calendar years 1955, 1956, 1957, and 1958 were filed with the district director of internal revenue, Richmond, Va.
During the years 1955 through 1958 petitioner was engaged in operating, as sole proprietor, a service station, an automobile repair garage, and a grocery business, all located at Hardy, Va. For each of these years he received income from such activities and he had no source of nontaxable income. Petitioner's gross receipts from business and his adjusted gross income were understated by him on the income tax returns which he filed for the years at issue. The adjusted gross income reported by petitioner on his income tax returns for the years 1955 through 1958, the corrected adjusted gross income, and the resulting understatements of adjusted gross income are as follows:
+-------------------------------------------------+
¦ ¦Adjusted gross¦Corrected ¦Understatement¦
+----+--------------+--------------+--------------¦
¦Year¦income ¦adjusted gross¦of adjusted ¦
+----+--------------+--------------+--------------¦
¦ ¦reported ¦income ¦gross income ¦
+----+--------------+--------------+--------------¦
¦1955¦$162.60 ¦$8,820.41 ¦$8,657.81 ¦
+----+--------------+--------------+--------------¦
¦1956¦2,081.64 ¦7,869.80 ¦5,788.16 ¦
+----+--------------+--------------+--------------¦
¦1957¦2,796.77 ¦15,721.53 ¦12,924.76 ¦
+----+--------------+--------------+--------------¦
¦1958¦1,488.85 ¦10,220.41 ¦8,731.56 ¦
+-------------------------------------------------+
By failing to correctly report his adjusted gross income in computing his tax liability (by the optional tax table) petitioner understated his Federal income tax liability for each of the taxable years 1955 through 1958 as follows:
+---------------------------------------------+
¦Year¦Tax liability¦Correct tax¦Understatement¦
+----+-------------+-----------+--------------¦
¦ ¦per return ¦liability ¦of tax ¦
+----+-------------+-----------+--------------¦
¦1955¦ ¦$1,642.12 ¦$1,642.12 ¦
+----+-------------+-----------+--------------¦
¦1956¦$78.45 ¦1,374.15 ¦1,295.70 ¦
+----+-------------+-----------+--------------¦
¦1957¦146.39 ¦4,152.47 ¦4,006.08 ¦
+----+-------------+-----------+--------------¦
¦1958¦50.25 ¦2,077.87 ¦2,027.62 ¦
+---------------------------------------------+
Prior to the issuance of the statutory notice involved herein petitioner executed a waiver of restrictions on the assessment and collection of deficiencies in income tax for the years 1955, 1956, 1957, and 1958. Thereafter, but still prior to the issuance of the statutory notice, deficiencies in income tax were assessed and paid by petitioner in the amounts and for the respective years as follows:
+---------------------------------+
¦Year ¦Deficiency in income tax ¦
+------+--------------------------¦
¦ ¦assessed and paid ¦
+------+--------------------------¦
¦1955 ¦$1,642.12 ¦
+------+--------------------------¦
¦1956 ¦1,295.70 ¦
+------+--------------------------¦
¦1957 ¦4,006.08 ¦
+------+--------------------------¦
¦1958 ¦2,027.62 ¦
+---------------------------------+
Subsequently, on August 28, 1962, a statutory notice of deficiency was sent to petitioner in which it was determined that there was due from him for each of the years 1955, 1956, 1957, and 1958, a deficiency in the 50-percent addition to the tax imposed under the provisions of section 6653(b) of the 1954 Code. The amounts of said deficiencies in the addition to the tax for each of such years (which amounts were based upon the deficiencies in income tax previously assessed and paid for such years in the respective amounts shown above) were as follows:
+-------------------------------+
¦ ¦Deficiency in addition ¦
+------+------------------------¦
¦ ¦to the tax ¦
+------+------------------------¦
¦Year ¦sec.6653(b) ¦
+------+------------------------¦
¦ ¦ ¦
+------+------------------------¦
¦1955 ¦$821.06 ¦
+------+------------------------¦
¦1956 ¦647.85 ¦
+------+------------------------¦
¦1957 ¦2,003.04 ¦
+------+------------------------¦
¦1958 ¦1,013.81 ¦
+------+------------------------¦
¦ ¦4,485.76 ¦
+-------------------------------+
Petitioner is the same person who was the defendant in the criminal case of United States of America v. John W. Amos, criminal action No. 6466(R), in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia, Roanoke Division. The Commissioner of Internal Revenue, respondent herein, is a party in privity with the United States of America which was party plaintiff in the aforesaid criminal action 6466(R).
On February 12, 1962, at Danville, Va., the grand jury returned an indictment in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia charging in four separate counts that John W. Amos did willfully and knowingly attempt to evade and defeat a large part of the income taxes due and owing by him to the United States of America for the calendar years 1955, 1956, 1957, and 1958, by understating his income for said years, submitting false statements of his income for said years, and by preparing and causing to be prepared and filed false and fraudulent income tax returns for said years in which he knowingly understated the income tax due and owing by him for said years, in violation of the provisions of section 7201, I.R.C. 1954.1
On March 5, 1962, petitioner, as defendant, appeared in person and by counsel before the Honorable Ted Dalton, Chief U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Virginia, was arraigned, and entered a plea of not guilty to the charges set forth against him in the above indictment. He waived in writing his right to jury trial, pursuant to rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, and requested that he be tried by the court without a jury and that all questions of law and fact be submitted to the court for determination, which request the court granted.
After a trial on the merits before Judge Dalton, sitting without a jury, the court rendered its findings of fact and conclusions of law, in which it held that the evidence established petitioner's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt and found petitioner guilty of violating the provisions of section 7201, I.R.C. 1954, with respect to the income tax returns filed by him for the years 1955, 1956, 1957, and 1958, as charged in the indictment. On March 5, 1962, the U.S. District Court entered its judgment of conviction against petitioner in criminal action No. 6466(R).2 This judgment of guilt and conviction has never been modified nor has any appeal been noted or taken therefrom. It has therefore now become final and binding in effect upon petitioner.
The single issue here involved is whether the addition to tax for fraud prescribed by section 6653(b) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 should be imposed against petitioner for each of the years 1955, 1956, 1957, and 1958. This issue is the same as that presented, litigated, and determined adversely to petitioner in the prior criminal proceeding to the extent that both the imposition of the fraud penalty under section 6653(b) for the years 1955 through 1958 and the conviction for violation of section 7201 for the same years are each dependent upon findings of fact that petitioner did file false and fraudulent income tax returns for 1955 through 1958 with intent to evade tax and that as a result thereof he understated his tax for each of these years. In our view there is thus presented a classic situation for the application of the doctrine of collateral estoppel.
Collateral estoppel, or estoppel by judgment as it is often referred to, is an adjunct of the ancient judicial doctrine of res judicata.3 While the two bear much in common, having derived from a singular purpose, they are by no...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
DiLeo v. Comm'r of Internal Revenue
...Moore v. United States, 360 F.2d 353, 354 (4th Cir. 1966); Tomlinson v. Lefkowitz, 334 F.2d 262, 265 (5th Cir. 1964); Amos v. Commissioner, 43 T.C. 50, 55 (1964), affd. 360 F.2d 358 (4th Cir. 1965). Mycek was convicted of income tax evasion under section 7201 for 1979. DiLeo was convicted o......
-
Estate of True v. Commissioner
...at 284 (citing The Evergreens v. Nunan [44-1 USTC ¶ 9265], 141 F.2d 927, 928-929 (2d Cir. 1944) (Evergreens)). In Amos v. Commissioner [Dec. 27,012], 43 T.C. 50 (1964), affd. [66-1 USTC ¶ 9130] 360 F. 2d 358 (4th Cir. 1965), this Court adopted the Evergreens "ultimate facts" test, which lim......
-
Meier v. Comm'r of Internal Revenue
...an ‘ultimate‘ fact. The Evergreens v. Nunan, 141 F.2d 927 (2d Cir. 1944). This Court adopted the ‘ultimate facts‘ approach. Amos v. Commissioner, 43 T.C. 50 (1964), affd. 360 F.2d 358 (4th Cir. 1965). More recent commentators and court opinions recommend or use evidentiary or intermediate f......
-
Rosenbaum v. Commissioner
...encompass all of the elements of fraud which are envisioned by * * * the fraud addition to tax in section 6653(b)." Amos v. Commissioner Dec. 27,012, 43 T.C. 50, 55 (1964), aff'd 66-1 USTC ¶ 9130 360 F. 2d 358 (4th Cir. 1965). See also Moore v. United States 66-1 USTC ¶ 9399, 360 F. 2d 353 ......