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TOUJOURS L'AUDACE!

January 28, 2005

It's common wisdom that when one needs to get out of a hole, one should first stop digging. Robert Rodriguez is apparently not cut from common cloth.

2003: BREAKING GROUND

Mr. Rodriguez first appeared in Tax Court in 2003; he was disputing his taxes for 1994 through 1996. Mr. Rodriguez filed no returns for those years, so the IRS assessed him based on 1099s and W-2s. He fought the IRS assessment by claiming he should be allowed deductions and should be treated as married, without providing evidence of either deductions or a wife.

At the end of the day, the Tax Court upheld the IRS assessment of $6,733 in taxes and $2,299.46 in penalties on $63,459 of income. Judge Laro also hit Mr. Rodriguez with a $10,000 penalty for pursuing a frivolous position.

2005: DIGGING DEEP

Mr. Rodriguez tested his luck again for his 1997 through 2000 tax years - this time before Tax Court Chief Judge Gerber. It went poorly.

   The opinion admonishing petitioner for his previous 
   conduct in 3 taxable years was filed on April 17, 2003.
   Nonetheless, petitioner had the audacity to once again   
   petition the Court to redetermine his tax liability for
   4 subsequent taxable years less than 3 months later, 
   on July 1, 2003, and to continue to submit the same 
   baseless arguments in this case as had been 
   presented in his earlier case.

George Danton liked audacity ("l'audace, toujours l'audace!"), but Tax Court judges don't:

   In his prior case, as in this case, petitioner was 
   warned before trial by respondent and during trial by 
   the Court that his position would warrant a penalty of 
   up to $25,000. Petitioner’s arguments are the same 
   frivolous and groundless arguments that we previously
   found were instituted primarily for delay. Petitioner
   continues in his failure to cooperate with respondent 
   and to advance the same frivolous arguments with the 
   Court after repeated warnings. Accordingly, we hold 
   that petitioner is liable for a $25,000 penalty under 
   section 6673.

Of course, audacity didn't work out well for Danton either.

WAS IT WORTH IT?

Let's look at the bottom line for Mr. Rodriguez's efforts:

Tax if returns were filed and taxes paid timely, 1994-2000: $24,209.
Tax and penalties assessed, 1994-2000, after two Tax Court cases: $66,141.74

As a result of his efforts, Mr. Rodriguez increased his liability 273%. Way to go, dude!

Cites:
Robert Rodriguez v. Commissioner; T.C. Memo. 2005-12
Robert Rodriguez v. Commissioner; T.C. Memo. 2003-105

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