Mario Biaggi’s Criminal Case Followed By Tax Travails
Biaggi appealed to the Second Circuit, objecting to the failure of the IRS to release special agent reports that were submitted to the Grand Jury and on the valuation issue, but had not luck.
An interesting point that I have not been able to determine is whether the IRS ended up whipsawing the Biaggi family. The assessment for Mario Biaggi not reporting the income from the grant of Wedtech stock relied on the six year statute. So was it too late for Richard Biaggi to claim a refund for the income that he had over-reported? Perhaps a protective refund claim went in early in the game.
SpongeBob SquarePants In A Tax Case!
The Greenbergers also tried an estoppel argument maintaining that since the Department of Justice had notified them that they might be victims of a crime, that the government could not now argue that they were not theft victims. That just didn’t work because Ohio law requires a privity between the thief and the victim.
There is probably not much of a tax planning point here since nobody plans to get defrauded. The fraud story is a really good one, though. I can’t rate it that highly since the basis was simply inflating sales, but I do think they should get some extra credit for including an animated character.
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Over and over again courts have said that there is nothing sinister in so arranging one’s affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible. Everybody does so, rich or poor; and all do right, for nobody owes any public duty to pay more than the law demands: taxes are enforced exactions, not voluntary contributions. To demand more in the name of morals is mere cant.