- 13 - tax returns. There is no question that petitioner sought to conceal his receipt of Mrs. Millyard's money because of the illegal nature of his activities. He knew that the receipt of the funds violated numerous banking and criminal provisions. The likelihood that petitioner also had the intent to conceal his illegal activities to avoid being charged with the nontax crimes does not negate his intent to evade tax. See Clayton v. Commissioner, supra at 647-648 (Commissioner need not establish that tax evasion was the primary motive; it is enough to demonstrate that tax evasion played a role in the taxpayer's conduct). The fact that petitioner concealed his receipt of the funds from illegal activities from his accountant and return preparer, Ms. Witt, is relevant to the issue of fraud. See Duffey v. Commissioner, 91 T.C. 81 (1988); Langworthy v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1998-218 (taxpayer's failure to be forthcoming with his return preparer was evidence of fraud). A taxpayer who relies on others to keep his records and prepare his tax returns may not withhold information from those persons relative to taxable events and then escape criminal responsibility for the resulting false returns. See United States v. O'Keefe, 825 F.2d 314, 318 (11th Cir. 1987); United States v. Garavaglia, 566 F.2d 1056 (6th Cir. 1977). In preparing petitioners' income tax returns forPage: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011