- 5 - In Helvering v. Mitchell, 303 U.S. 391 (1938), the Supreme Court in an income tax case held that civil fraud penalties are remedial in nature when imposed upon a taxpayer who has been tried, but not convicted, of criminal tax evasion. The Supreme Court subsequently held that "under the Double Jeopardy Clause a defendant who already has been punished in a criminal prosecution may not be subjected to an additional civil sanction to the extent that the second sanction may not fairly be characterized as remedial, but only as deterrent or retribution." United States v. Halper, 490 U.S. 435, 448-449 (1989). However, Halper involved medicare fraud under the Civil False Claims Act, and the First Circuit has made clear that "To use Halper as a base for vaulting into the tax arena would be to misapply the case and distort its holding." McNichols v. Commissioner, 13 F.3d 432, 435 (1st Cir. 1993), affg. T.C. Memo. 1993-61. And this Court has held that the imposition of section 6653(b) fraud additions after a taxpayer has been criminally convicted pursuant to section 7201 does not violate the Double Jeopardy Clause. Ianniello v. Commissioner, 98 T.C. 165, 183-185 (1992) ("The additions to tax for fraud are a stated percentage of the dollar amount of the tax deficiencies, and are therefore tailored to the severity of the violation. * * * Thus, unlike United States v. Halper, supra, the additions imposed against petitioners are rationally related to the governmental costs incurred by reasonPage: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011