Supreme Court Holds DOJ’s Feet to the Fire in Tax Crime Case

In Marinello v. United States, an opinion released yesterday, the Supreme Court adopted a narrowing interpretation of the tax code’s broadest criminal provision, the “tax obstruction” statute 26 U.S.C. § 7212(a).  The Court’s opinion is good news for taxpayers, their advisors, and the sound administration of the law. Marinello concerned whether the crime of “corruptly … endeavor[ing] to obstruct the due administration” of the tax laws (i) prohibits obstruction only of pending IRS audits and collection efforts, or (ii) instead applies more broadly.  The government urged that the crime included conduct well before any IRS audit, so long as it was motivated by a desire to cheat on one’s taxes – including otherwise-lawful conduct like dealing in cash, or avoiding the creation of records not required by law. DOJ urged a broad interpretation of the tax obstruction statute because the tax laws themselves are broad:…

Read more detail on Recent Administrative Law posts –

This entry was posted in Administrative law and tagged , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply