U.S. v. Tenzer, 95 CR. 1016(CLB).
| Decision Date | 07 May 1998 |
| Docket Number | No. 95 CR. 1016(CLB).,95 CR. 1016(CLB). |
| Citation | 4 F.Supp.2d 306 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America v. James L. TENZER, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York |
Cynthia Dunn, Asst. U.S. Atty., U.S. Attorney's Office, White Plains, NY, for plaintiff.
William F. Dowling, Wachted & Masyr, LLP, New York, NY, for defendant.
This case arises out of the failure of defendant, James L. Tenzer, to timely file income tax returns for the years 1987 through 1990. On November 30, 1995 Mr. Tenzer was charged in a four-count Information with having unlawfully, willingly and knowingly failed to file income taxes for each of those years. Presently before the Court for decision is a renewed motion by Mr. Tenzer to dismiss the Information on the ground that the charges in the Information were filed against him in violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
This Court, in a decision issued on September 10, 1996, granted Mr. Tenzer's previous motion to dismiss the Information on the grounds that he complied with, and was thus protected by, the Internal Revenue Service's published voluntary disclosure policy. United States v. Tenzer, 950 F.Supp. 554 (S.D.N.Y.1996). Our Court of Appeals reversed, in an opinion issued on September 19, 1997, holding that Mr. Tenzer's offer in compromise failed to satisfy one of the requirements of that policy, that the taxpayer make bona fide arrangements to pay his tax liability. United States v. Tenzer, 127 F.3d 222 (2d Cir.1997). The Court of Appeals denied Mr. Tenzer's petition for a rehearing by order dated November 6, 1997, and the Supreme Court denied his petition for certiorari on April 27, 1998. Familiarity with the prior opinions is assumed.
Mr. Tenzer now renews his motion for this Court to dismiss the Information based on "new evidence" which shows that his offer in compromise was never "rejected" by the IRS, but was merely returned as "not processable." See Ex. A to April 15, 1998 Wachtel Letter. The Government contends that the fact that Mr. Tenzer's offer was never "rejected" is not new evidence. While a February 26, 1993 letter to Mr. Tenzer from the IRS stating that "[t]he Offer in Compromise that you recently submitted is being returned to you because it is not processable," see DX G, was previously in the record, the IRS' computer printout listing Mr. Tenzer's offer as still pending rather than rejected was not a part of the record and represents information received for the first time on this motion. That a denial as unprocessable and a rejection are not equivalent was never made clear, and throughout the litigation of this case both parties, this Court and the Court of Appeals proceeded on the assumption that Mr. Tenzer's offer had been rejected by the IRS . In its oral argument to the Court of Appeals the Government stated that the offer had been "rejected out of hand," whatever that means. Ex. B to Vinegrad Reply Declaration.
Mr. Tenzer contends that, because his offer in compromise was never rejected, that the IRS failed to negotiate with him in good faith towards the end of achieving an arrangement to pay his tax liability and that, as a result, the Information against him should be dismissed based on a denial of due process. For the reasons set forth below Mr. Tenzer's motion is denied.
Mr. Tenzer argues that the Court of Appeals never considered (1) whether the IRS' decision unilaterally to terminate negotiations without ever rejecting his offer in compromise was arbitrary and capricious and (2) whether that decision violated his due process rights.
Mr. Tenzer filed his 1987, 1988 and 1989 tax returns in February 1992. His case was subsequently assigned to IRS revenue officer Elizabeth Kishlansky for civil enforcement purposes. Officer Kishlansky refused to consider any installment plan for payment of the tax liability until all of Mr. Tenzer's delinquent returns were filed. In November 1992 Mr. Tenzer filed his 1990 and 1991 returns. On January 8, 1993 Mr. Tenzer's lawyers met with Officer Kishlansky. This Court found that when attorney Honecker (an experienced former IRS lawyer) asked, Officer Kishlansky assured him that Mr. Tenzer's voluntary disclosure was being considered as a civil matter. The Court of Appeals did not disturb this finding. Tenzer, 127 F.3d at 224.
The possibility of an offer in compromise of Mr. Tenzer's liability was also discussed at the January 8, 1993 meeting. Officer Kishlansky stated that such an offer would not be considered unless Mr. Tenzer became current on his accruing taxes and she estimated that a reasonable offer, considering the magnitude of Mr. Tenzer's liability, would be in excess of $600,000. On February 5, 1993 attorney Honecker submitted a formal offer in compromise to the IRS proposing a payment of $250,000. An initial payment of $5,000 was enclosed with the letter. On February 26, 1993 the IRS returned the $5,000 check and determined that Mr. Tenzer's offer in compromise was "not processable" because the amount proposed was too low. The letter invited Mr. Tenzer to make changes and resubmit the offer. Ex. F. The fact that the IRS expected Mr. Tenzer to resubmit his offer is confirmed by the notation in the "remarks" section of the IRS' computer printout of Mr. Tenzer's case which reads "[terry (see ruth when this comes back from tp)]". Ex. A to Wachtel Letter.
In an April 14, 1993 letter attorney Honecker informed Officer Kishlansky that Mr. Tenzer's offer had been incorrectly denied because of the IRS' failure to discount Mr. Tenzer's non-liquid assets to their "forced sale" value, and stated that he would be resubmitting the offer in compromise with an explanation of how he had arrived at the $250,000 figure. In late April 1993 Officer Kishlansky transferred Mr. Tenzer's file to the IRS' offices in Brooklyn (the Brooklyn office serves Long Island, which is where Mr. Tenzer's assets were located). According to attorney Honecker's uncontradicted testimony, Officer Kishlansky informed him of the transfer and instructed him to wait until the Brooklyn office contacted him before resubmitting the offer (Tr. 435-36, 484-85). The Government does not deny that Officer Kishlansky so instructed attorney Honecker.
Attorney Honecker did not hear from the IRS again regarding this matter. In June 1993 a "914" freeze was placed on all efforts to collect Mr. Tenzer's tax liabilities, and on July 9, 1993 special agents Trezza and Gross informed Mr. Tenzer's attorneys that Mr. Tenzer's personal tax matters were under criminal investigation by the IRS.
According to our Court of Appeals the IRS was required to afford Mr. Tenzer a reasonable opportunity to create a payment plan. Tenzer, 127 F.3d at 227. The Government argues, and the Court of Appeals held, that Mr. Tenzer was given a reasonable length of time to comply. It appears to this Court that the real issue is not whether a certain amount of time had passed,1 but rather the issue is whether Mr. Tenzer was dealt with fairly and was provided with reasonable notification regarding the status of the negotiations. In this case the IRS returned Mr. Tenzer's offer in compromise as "not processable" with instructions to resubmit it, and then directed him to await a response from the Brooklyn office before submitting anything further. However, when another official of the IRS discovered that Mr. Tenzer may have been a party to an unrelated tax fraud by one of Mr. Tenzer's clients (JRD Management Corp.) which was then the subject of a criminal investigation, the IRS proceeded to commence a criminal prosecution against Mr. Tenzer without notifying him that the negotiations had been terminated and without ever finally accepting or rejecting his offer in...
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U.S. v. Tenzer
...based on allegedly new evidence produced by the government, but the district court held that the "mandate rule" precluded it. 4 F. Supp.2d 306, 310 (S.D.N.Y. 1998). Following a conditional guilty plea, Judge Brieant sentenced Tenzer to a year and a day incarceration, but declined to depart ......