And guess who's #1?
https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blo ... -2019.html#1. Some Folks Never Learn
Peter E. Hendrickson and Doreen M. Hendrickson v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2019-10 (Feb.11, 2019) (Judge Buch)
The Hendricksons asked the Court to review deficiencies proposed for their joint 2002 and 2003 returns, and Mr. Hendrickson’s married-filing-separately returns for 2004, 2005 and 2006.
Some time before 2002 Mr. Hendrickson wrote and self-published a book called “Cracking The Code: The Fascinating Truth About Taxation In America.” It is still listed as for sale on Amazon for the low, low price of $94.95. The book advocates a variety of tax protestor positions and instructs readers on how to dispute all W-2’s and 1099’s and get a refund of all withholdings.
Mr. Hendrickson did not just talk the talk. He walked the walk, filing zero-income returns and disputing all amounts reported on his employer’s W-2. And, naturally, he omitted from income all proceeds from the sale of his book! That worked for 2002 and 2003 and he received back all that had been withheld. It did not work for the later tax years.
Mr. Hendrickson took advantage of several opportunities to argue his tax protestor theories in court. He lost every time, including a civil erroneous refund case brought by DOJ and an associated criminal case for the 2002 and 2003 years. In those cases he was unable to convince either a district court or a criminal jury on the rightness of his views. The jury convicted him on 10 counts of filing a false document under §7206(1). He was ordered to make criminal restitution in an amount of the refunds he had fraudulently obtained plus an amount the federal district court thought approximated his liabilities for 2002 and 2003.
In this year’s case, Mr. Hendrickson again tried to convince the Tax Court of his tax protestor arguments. He failed. Judge Buch wrote: “The Hendricksons’ position is frivolous. The Hendricksons continue to offer only “tax protester” or “tax defier” arguments and nothing else.” (p. 19)
SMH Moment: Sadly, Mr. Hendrickson is still making money off of suckers, at least if the most recent Amazon user review, posted June 2019 from one Albert Flores, is to be believed. Writes Mr. Flores: “Excellent book. Can't recommend highly enough. I have filed educated returns last two years running and have received all withholdings back from both the irs and my home state. The information is presented well and thorough.” SMH. Poor Mr. Flores.