Married couple Nancy and Dale Gribble reside in a modest home in Arlen, Texas, where Nancy works as a salaried weather reporter and Dale is self-employed as an exterminator.
It is April 1, and Nancy has gotten a new job as a weather reporter in Houston. But the new job comes with only a modest increase in salary. Dale and Nancy have always dreamed of living in a fancy downtown Houston condo and they believe the time is right to buy one. But they have little savings and do not have the income to qualify for a large enough mortgage to do so.
“Not to worry, honey!” Says Dale. “It’s time to make the IRS work for me for a change!” On April 7, he prepares and files a tax return showing that he earned $100,000 dollars in taxable income. In reality, he has only earned $50,000 in taxable income. Although he made sufficient estimated payments and set aside enough money to pay taxes on $50,000 of taxable income, he cannot pay the additional tax on $100,000 of taxable income. Accordingly, he requests a payment plan.
Dale believes that he will be able to use the tax return showing $100,000 of taxable income to demonstrate to the bank that he will be able to afford the mortgage on the desired Houston condo.
Questions:
Consider the following crimes that we have discussed in class: 26 U.S.C. § 7201 Evasion of Tax and Payment; 26 U.S.C. § 7206(1) Tax Perjury and § 7206(2) Return Preparation Fraud; 26 U.S.C. § 7202 Failure to Withhold, Account for, and Pay Over Tax; 26 U.S.C. § 7203 Willful Failure to File and Pay; 26 U.S.C. § 7212 Tax Obstruction; and 26 U.S.C. § 7207 Submission of False Documents.
Discuss whether Dale has committed each of these crimes.