U.S. I.R.S. v. Charlton

• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (7th Circuit)
• Citation: 2 F.3d 237,72 A.F.T.R.2d 93
• Docket Number: No. 92-3060,92-3060
• Parties: -5723, 93-2 USTC P 50,469, Unempl.Ins.Rep. (CCH) P 17482A UNITED STATES INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Earl A. CHARLTON, Defendant-Appellant.
• Decision Date: 20 September 1993

Page 237

2 F.3d 237

72 A.F.T.R.2d 93-5723, 93-2 USTC P 50,469,

Unempl.Ins.Rep. (CCH) P 17482A

UNITED STATES INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Earl A. CHARLTON, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 92-3060.

United States Court of Appeals,

Seventh Circuit.

Argued April 7, 1993.

Decided Aug. 17, 1993.

Rehearing and Suggestion for Rehearing En Banc Denied Sept.

20, 1993.

John E. Fryatt, U.S. Atty., Office of the U.S. Atty., Milwaukee, WI, Gary R. Allen, Charles E. Brookhart, Billie L. Crowe (argued), Dept. of Justice, Tax Div., Appellate Section, Washington, DC, for plaintiff-appellee.

Joseph J. Welcenbach (argued), Margaret A. Watt, Welcenbach & Widmann, Milwaukee, WI, for defendant-appellant.

Before EASTERBROOK and KANNE, Circuit Judges, and ENGEL, Senior Circuit Judge. ^*

ENGEL, Senior Circuit Judge.

Taxpayer Earl Charlton appeals the district court's order affirming the bankruptcy court's decision holding him personally liable under section 6672 of the Internal Revenue Code for the unpaid employment taxes of five Wisconsin restaurants. This appeal requires us to determine whether the evidence was sufficient to establish that Charlton was a "responsible person," with a duty to remit withheld taxes to the government, within the meaning of section 6672. Because we conclude that the evidence was sufficient, we affirm.

I

Earl Charlton has been a practicing attorney since 1950. In the late 1970s, Charlton invested in a group of five restaurants, known collectively as the Left Guard, created by former Green Bay Packer Frederick (Fuzzy) Thurston. These restaurants were located in Eau Claire, Madison, Janesville, Milwaukee, and West Allis, Wisconsin. ¹ Charlton purchased a large number of shares of stock in each restaurant and was elected to the boards of directors of four of them. He was eventually named the secretary of the West Allis and Janesville restaurants. In 1978, when the shareholders created a holding company for the five restaurants, Charlton was designated its registered agent and secretary.

In 1979, Charlton performed a number of official functions in his various capacities. He executed a resolution granting the assistant secretary and others the authority to sign payroll checks at the West Allis restaurant. He executed a second resolution authorizing him to borrow money and to endorse or assign checks, certificates of deposit and other commercial paper. He executed a loan guarantee and completed an alcoholic beverage license renewal application for the West Allis restaurant, a task which required information concerning the restaurant's finances. Charlton executed a resolution authorizing the sale and leaseback of the Milwaukee restaurant's equipment. He also signed a $350,000 note to an investment partnership to cover a loan to the holding company, and he disbursed to an attorney a check in payment for legal services rendered on behalf of the holding company. By late 1978, Charlton had invested a total of $85,000 in the restaurants. By mid-1979, this sum had grown to $143,000, and Charlton had loaned an additional $70,000 to the restaurants.

On July 31, 1979, Charlton read in a local paper that the IRS had filed tax liens against the West Allis, Janesville, and Eau Claire restaurants. Shortly thereafter, he mailed a check to the Service in payment of the Eau Claire restaurant's unpaid employment taxes. ² On August 9, he instructed a bank to set aside $35,000 from the proceeds of the recent $350,000 loan in order to pay the taxes due from the West Allis restaurant. The next day, the Left Guard's attorney wrote the IRS to inform the Service that he had advised Charlton and another shareholder of the tax liens. He also informed the IRS that one of the investors would pay the Service $4,000 immediately and $4,000 per week thereafter until the deficiencies were remedied. On August 17, Charlton disbursed a $4,000 check to the IRS in payment of the West Allis restaurant's unpaid taxes. He also informed the service that it would receive another check in the same amount during the following week.

In November of 1979, Charlton and the other Left Guard investors decided to partition their interests in the restaurants. As the result of an agreement between them, Charlton and one other investor relinquished control over the Eau Claire, Madison and Janesville restaurants, and assumed complete ownership of the holding company and of the Milwaukee and West Allis restaurants. The holding company also gave up its interest in the Eau Claire, Madison, and Janesville restaurants.

On the following day, Charlton and his partner met with an IRS revenue officer and discussed the tax liability of all five restaurants. A week later, Charlton executed an agreement whereby a management company took over day-to-day operation of the Milwaukee and West Allis restaurants. In January of 1980, Charlton, in his capacity as secretary of the West Allis restaurant, authorized members of the management company to sign payroll checks.

In 1981, Charlton filed a petition for bankruptcy under Chapter 11. In 1983, the IRS filed a claim against the bankruptcy estate in the amount of approximately $158,000, representing unpaid taxes associated with the Left Guard restaurants. The Service's claim was premised upon 26 U.S.C. Sec. 6672, which provides that persons responsible for the withholding and payment to the IRS of employment taxes who willfully fail to do so may be held personally responsible.

The bankruptcy court ruled that Charlton was such a "responsible person" with respect to all five of the restaurants prior to the November, 1979 partition of interests, and that he was thereafter responsible for the unpaid taxes associated with the Milwaukee and West Allis restaurants. In re Charlton, No. 81-01019 (Bankr.E.D.Wis. July 1, 1989) (Memorandum Decision). The district court affirmed, United States v. Charlton, 144 B.R. 845 (E.D.Wis.) (Order), and Charlton now appeals.

II

26 U.S.C. Sec. 6672(a) provides as follows:

Any person required to collect, truthfully account for, and pay over any tax imposed by this title who willfully fails to collect such tax, or truthfully account for and pay over such tax, or willfully attempts in any manner to evade or defeat any such tax or the payment thereof, shall, in addition to other penalties provided by law, be liable to a penalty equal to the total amount of the tax evaded, or not collected, or not accounted for and paid over....

Under this section, the burden is on the taxpayer to disprove the Service's claim by a preponderance of the evidence. Ruth v United States, 823 F.2d 1091, 1093 (7th Cir.1987). Because Charlton does not contest the lower courts' finding that his failure to remit the taxes was willful, the only issue is whether the evidence was insufficient to establish that Charlton was not a "responsible person" for purposes of section 6672.

The Internal Revenue Code defines "person" as "an officer or employee of the corporation ... who as such officer or employee ... is under a duty to perform the act in respect of which the violation occurs." 26 U.S.C. Sec. 6671(b). Whether such a duty exists depends on whether the taxpayer has "significant control or authority over an enterprise's finances or general decision-making." Ruth, 823 F.2d at 1094. Relevant factors include the holding of an...