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The couple’s financial problems worsened after Mr. Parker
made a mistake while preparing their 1996 return--a mistake that
has understandably caused Ms. Goode-Parker much pain and anxiety.
What happened was this: Her husband correctly completed all of
the schedules and filled in the Form 1040 perfectly through line
38, the end of the “Tax Computation” section, where he properly
reported $18,650 as tax. His mistake occurred when he skipped
the “Credits” section, lines 39-44. The Parkers did not have any
credits in 1996, but line 44 instructs the preparer to subtract
any credits from the tax reported on line 38. Mr. Parker should
have subtracted zero from $18,650--the amount of tax he had
entered on line 38--and written $18,650 on line 44. Instead, he
left it blank. He then correctly completed lines 45 through 50,
the “Other Taxes” section, by reporting $9,796 in self-employment
taxes from his law practice on line 45. The end of the “Other
Taxes” section, line 51, instructs the preparer to compute his
“total tax” by adding lines 44 through 50. The Parkers’ return
had only one number on lines 44 through 50--$9,796--which they
reported as their total tax. This was wrong--the total tax
should have been $9,796 + $18,650, or $28,446.
When the Parkers’ return got to the IRS Service Center, it
was put through a quick review by what one witness called the
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Last modified: May 25, 2011