26
Opinion of Stevens, J.
I
This is an easy case. The federal tax fraud statute, 26 U. S. C. § 7206(1), prohibits the filing of any return that the taxpayer "does not believe to be true and correct as to every material matter." * (Emphasis added.) The Court of Appeals, in accordance with other courts, construed "material matter" to describe "any information necessary to a determination of a taxpayer's income tax liability." 136 F. 3d 1459, 1465 (CA11 1998) (citing United States v. Aramony, 88 F. 3d 1369, 1384 (CA4 1996); United States v. Klausner, 80 F. 3d 55, 60 (CA2 1996); United States v. Holland, 880 F. 2d 1091, 1096 (CA9 1989)). Petitioner has not challenged this legal standard.
The jury found that petitioner knowingly and "falsely reported [his] total income in his 1985 return . . . and in his 1986 return." App. 256 ( jury instructions). A taxpayer's "total income" is obviously "information necessary to a determination of a taxpayer's income tax liability." 136 F. 3d, at 1465. The jury verdict, therefore, was not merely the functional equivalent of a finding on any possible materiality issue; it necessarily included a finding on that issue. That being so, the trial judge's failure to give a separate instruction on that issue was harmless error under any test of harmlessness.
But the Court does not rest its decision on this logic. Rather, it finds the instructional error harmless because petitioner "did not, and apparently could not, bring forth
*Section 7206 provides, in relevant part: "Any person who—
"(1) Declaration under penalties of perjury. "Willfully makes and subscribes any return, statement, or other document, which contains or is verified by a written declaration that is made under the penalties of perjury, and which he does not believe to be true and correct as to every material matter . . .
. . . . . "shall be guilty of a felony."
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