United States v. Jane Boyd

991 F.3d 1077
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedMarch 24, 2021
Docket19-55585
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 991 F.3d 1077 (United States v. Jane Boyd) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Jane Boyd, 991 F.3d 1077 (9th Cir. 2021).

Opinion

FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, No. 19-55585 Plaintiff-Appellee, D.C. No. V. 2:18-cv-00803- MWF-JEM JANE BoyD, Defendant-Appellant. OPINION

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California Michael W. Fitzgerald, District Judge, Presiding

Argued and Submitted September 1, 2020 Pasadena, California

Filed March 24, 2021

Before: Sandra S. Ikuta and Mark J. Bennett, Circuit Judges, and Douglas Woodlock,* District Judge.

Opinion by Judge Bennett; Dissent by Judge Ikuta

* The Honorable Douglas P. Woodlock, United States District Judge for the District of Massachusetts, sitting by designation. 2 UNITED STATES V. BOYD

SUMMARY™

Tax

The panel reversed the district court’s judgment and remanded for further proceedings in an action by the United States for tax penalties and interest involving a taxpayer’s failure to report foreign financial accounts.

Taxpayer had a financial interest in multiple financial accounts in the United Kingdom. She received interest and dividends from these accounts but did not report the interest and dividends on her 2010 federal income tax return, or disclose the account to the Internal Revenue Service. In 2012, taxpayer participated in the Internal Revenue Service’s Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program and submitted a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) listing her fourteen foreign accounts for 2010, and amended that year’s tax return to include the interest and dividends from those accounts. The IRS concluded that taxpayer had committed thirteen non-willful violations of the reporting requirements under 31 U.S.C. § 5314—one for each account she failed to timely report for 2010. The United States then sued taxpayer for civil penalties under

§ 5321(a)(5)(A).

Examining the statutory and regulatory scheme for reporting a relationship with a foreign financial agency under § 5314, the panel held that § 5321(a)(5)(A) authorizes the IRS to impose only one non-willful penalty when an

™“ This summary constitutes no part of the opinion of the court. It has been prepared by court staff for the convenience of the reader. UNITED STATES V. BOYD 3

untimely, but accurate, FBAR is filed, no matter the number of accounts.

Judge Ikuta dissented because the panel’s interpretation of the statutes is contrary to the language of the relevant statutes and regulations, and is implausible in context. In Judge Ikuta’s view, the majority interprets the statutes and regulations in a manner that unfairly favors the tax evader.

COUNSEL

A. Lavar Taylor (argued) and Jonathan T. Amitrano, Law Offices of A. Lavar Taylor LLP, Santa Ana, California, for Defendant-Appellant.

Francesca Ugolini (argued), Deborah K. Snyder, and Kathleen E. Lyon, Attorneys; Richard E. Zuckerman, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General; Tax Division, United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C.; for Plaintiff-Appellee.

David Michaels, DTMtax, Placentia, California, for Amici Curiae Laxman, Jashu, Hiten, and Anita Patel.

Caroline D. Ciraolo and Caroline Rule, Kostelanetz & Fink LLP, Washington, D.C., for Amicus Curiae American College of Tax Counsel. 4 UNITED STATES V. BOYD

OPINION BENNETT, Circuit Judge:

Defendant Jane Boyd did not timely file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts form (“FBAR”) disclosing her foreign financial accounts in the United Kingdom.! The Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) found that she violated the reporting requirements of 31 U.S.C. § 5314 and imposed multiple penalties under 31 U.S.C. § 5321(a)(5)(A) based on her belated submission of a single FBAR. The government sued in the district court seeking to obtain a judgment against Boyd in the amount of $47,279, plus additional late-payment penalties and interest for non- willful violations. The parties cross moved for summary judgment. The district court granted the government’s motion, concluding that § 5321(a)(5)(A) authorized the government to impose multiple non-willful penalties—up to $10,000 for each foreign bank account that was required to be listed on the FBAR. We reverse this judgment and conclude that § 5321(a)(5)(A) authorizes the IRS to impose only one non-willful penalty when an untimely, but accurate, FBAR is filed, no matter the number of accounts.

L

The relevant facts are undisputed. Jane Boyd, an American citizen, had a financial interest in fourteen

! The FBAR was due by June 30, 2011. Boyd filed an accurate FBAR in October 2012 on the prescribed form, TD F 90-22.1. A blank copy of Form TD F 90-22.1 as it appears in the Excerpts of Record, is attached as Appendix A to this opinion. The parties do not dispute that this was the prescribed form at the time Boyd made her belated FBAR filing. Appendix B to this opinion contains certain relevant statutes and regulations. UNITED STATES V. BOYD 5

financial accounts in the United Kingdom with an aggregate balance in excess of $10,000. The amounts in these accounts significantly increased between 2009 and 2011 after her father died in 2009 and she deposited her inheritance. Boyd received interest and dividends from these accounts and did not report the interest and dividends on her 2010 federal income tax return or disclose the accounts to the IRS. In 2012, Boyd asked to participate in the IRS’s Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program—a program that allows taxpayers to voluntarily report undisclosed offshore financial accounts in exchange for predictable and uniform penalties. After the IRS accepted Boyd into the program, she submitted, in October 2012, an FBAR listing her fourteen foreign accounts for 2010 and amended her 2010 tax return to include the interest and dividends from these accounts.

Boyd was granted permission by the IRS to opt out of the program in 2014. The IRS then examined Boyd’s income tax return and concluded that she committed thirteen FBAR violations—one violation for each account she failed to timely report for calendar year 2010.7 The late-submitted FBAR was complete and accurate. The IRS concluded that Boyd’s violations were non-willful, and it assessed a total penalty of $47,279. In 2018, the government sued Boyd seeking to obtain a judgment against her for the $47,279 plus additional late-payment penalties and interest.

Boyd argued before the district court that she had committed only one non-willful violation, not thirteen, and that the maximum penalty allowed by the statute for that

2 The IRS determined that one of the accounts was used to fund several other accounts and therefore did not impose a separate penalty on the fourteenth account. 6 UNITED STATES V. BOYD

single non-willful violation was $10,000. The government contended that the relevant statutes and regulations authorized the IRS to assess one penalty for each non- reported account. The district court agreed with the government. Boyd timely appealed.

We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291.

II.

This case presents an issue of first impression for this court. We must decide whether 31 U.S.C. § 5321 authorizes the IRS to impose multiple non-willful penalties for the untimely filing of a single accurate FBAR that includes multiple foreign accounts.

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991 F.3d 1077, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-jane-boyd-ca9-2021.