Peters v. United States

574 F. Supp. 37, 52 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 6010, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14447
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Wisconsin
DecidedAugust 22, 1983
DocketCiv. A. No. 83-C-762
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 574 F. Supp. 37 (Peters v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Peters v. United States, 574 F. Supp. 37, 52 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 6010, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14447 (E.D. Wis. 1983).

Opinion

DECISION and ORDER

TERENCE T. EVANS, District Judge.

On April 28, 1983, the Internal Revenue Service made a jeopardy assessment, authorized by § 6861(a) of the Internal Revenue Code, against the plaintiff Anthony J. Peters. Peters was assessed taxes, penalties and interest for 1981 and 1982. The assessments included $123,350.62 in taxes, $61,675.31 in fraud penalties, and $25,-052.81 in interest for 1981, and $850,256.05 in taxes, $425,128.02 in fraud penalties, and $4,858.06 in interest for 1982. At Peters' request, the District Director of the Internal Revenue Service has reviewed the assessment in accordance with 26 U.S.C. § 7429(a)(2). The assessment was upheld. This suit, seeking a summary judicial review of the jeopardy assessment, was filed on June 10, 1983. After a hearing on June 29, 1983, the matter was taken under advisement.

The procedure for judicial review of a jeopardy assessment is set out in § 7429(b)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code: I must first determine whether the making of the assessment “is reasonable under the circumstances ...”. If I find that it is, I must then decide whether the amount assessed “is appropriate under the circumstances ...” The burden of satisfying the first consideration is on the government; the burden of challenging the second falls on Mr. Peters.

I.

After a review and consideration of the testimony, documents and affidavits submitted by the parties, I believe that the decision to make a jeopardy tax assessment against Peters was “reasonable under the circumstances.”

A jeopardy assessment is “reasonable under the circumstances” if any of these three conditions are present:

(1) The taxpayer is or appears to be designing quickly to depart from the United States or to conceal himself;
(2) the taxpayer is or appears to be designing quickly to place his property beyond the reach of the Government either by removing it from the United States, or by concealing it, or by transferring it to other persons, or by dissipating it; or
(3) the taxpayer’s financial solvency appears to be in peril.

Joint Comm, on Taxation, General Explanation of the Tax Reform Act of 1976, H.R. Doc. No. 10612, 94th Cong., 2d Sess., 361, n. 1, and 536, n. 1 (1976). Congress has noted its approval of these conditions. See S.Rep. No. 94-938 (Part II), 94th Cong., 2d Sess., 360, n. 1, and 365, n. 6 (1976), U.S. Code Cong. & Admin.News, p. 2897.

The evidence here establishes that conditions (1) and (2) are present, thus the assessment is “reasonable under the circumstances.”

Peters is 26 years old and single. He was indicted by a federal grand jury sitting here on April 26,1983. He was arrested on April 27, 1983, and charged with 14 counts relating to his alleged involvement in a sophisticated cocaine distribution operation. In all, Peters faces a maximum of 164 years in prison and fines of $400,000.00.

A government informant has reported that Peters said he would leave the country when and if he was indicted. He has, earlier this year, traveled to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. During a search of his residence, Peters’ passport was found in a brief case. These facts, reasonably believed and relied on, satisfy the first condition.

[39]*39The second condition is satisfied by the information supplied in the affidavit supporting a search warrant issued for Peters’ residence. The IRS, in making a jeopardy assessment, may rely on reasonable inferences drawn from information such as this. See Patrick v. United States, 524 F.2d 1109, 1120 (7th Cir.1975); Strauser v. United States, 535 F.Supp. 957 at 960, 49 A.F.T.R.2d 82-953, 954 (N.D.Ill.1982). The affidavit indicates that Peters dealt in large amounts of cash, and that proceeds from drug transactions were converted into valuable gems. Peters argues that these claims fail to show that he is concealing his income. He claims that the cash transactions are accurately reflected in his bank account transactions. He suggests that the gem purchases were legitimate investments.

The affidavit relied on by the government undermines Peters’ arguments. It shows that he was earning in excess of one million dollars a year. His bank account, however, does not reflect that kind of income. Furthermore, information in the affidavit reasonably leads to the belief that Peters purchased gems with no other purpose in mind than to conceal illicit income. (See Affidavit of Agent Thomas Stacy at 117-8).

Under circumstances such as these, it has been held reasonable for the IRS to conclude that the collection of taxes might be in danger. For example, in Nolan v. United States, 539 F.Supp. 788 (D.Az.1982), a jeopardy assessment was upheld where the plaintiff

had engaged in “profitable illegal activity,” including drugs and prostitution. Income tax returns [had] not been filed by Nolan for 1980 although information indicate[d] that he had enough income to require a return to be filed. When arrested in July, police found $22,000 in cash and jewelry estimated by Nolan to be worth $200,000 in Nolan’s home.

Id. at 790. The Nolan court concluded, “It is reasonable to infer that these assets had not been reported to I.R.S. and were being concealed from the government.” Id. In Barry v. United States, 534 F.Supp. 304, 309 (E.D.Pa.1982), a jeopardy assessment was upheld where the plaintiff

was earning substantial income from illegal gambling activities and, in light of his prior tax returns, ... was not reporting this income to IRS. Further, it appealed] that Barry was converting significant sums of money into precious metals which are easily concealed and are not readily subject to attachment for the purposes of securing payment of tax liability.

Id. at 308-309. A similar conclusion was reached in Rogers v. United States, 511 F.Supp. 82 (D.Minn.1982). The court wrote:

The Government has met its burden of showing that the termination assessment was reasonable. The facts set out in Agent Langer’s affidavit regarding Roger’s apparent means of making a living, the large amount of cash he had access to, and his past failure to file income tax returns indicates that it was reasonable for the IRS to conclude that termination proceedings were necessary.

Id. at 84.

The circumstances here, compared with those presented in the cited cases, compels the conclusion that the making of the jeopardy assessment against Mr. Peters was reasonable under the circumstances.

II.

Having decided that the issuance of the jeopardy assessment against Peters was reasonable, I turn to the second question; was the amount of the jeopardy assessment appropriate? I find that the determination of the amount of tax due for both 1981 and 1982 was reasonable. However, I believe that the decision to assess additional penalties for fraud pursuant to § 6653(b) cannot stand. Consequently, the fraud penalties plus a proportion of the amount of interest assessed must be abated.

The decision whether to uphold the amount of the assessment is made in light of two basic principles. First, the burden

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Related

Klotzman v. United States, Internal Revenue Service
618 F. Supp. 112 (D. Maryland, 1985)

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Bluebook (online)
574 F. Supp. 37, 52 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 6010, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14447, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/peters-v-united-states-wied-1983.