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CATTLE SHELTER KINGPIN DIES IN PRISON

September 24, 2007

Cattle-feeding tax shelters were all the rage in the 1970s and 1980s, and nobody did it like Walter J. Hoyt III. Mr. Hoyt launched over 100 partnerships. Unfortunately for Mr. Hoyt's partners, the partnerships used bogus bovines to generate the deductions, as Tax Analysts reported:

By the time of his conviction and 20-year sentence on 52 counts of fraud and conspiracy, Hoyt had created some 38,000 cows from thin air, each of which generated millions in deductible expenses allocated to limited partners coast to coast.

Taxpayers are still ensnared in the courts over the resulting tax deficiencies. The Tax Court has issued 15 decisions so far this year dealing with Hoyt partnership investers, most recently on August 8.

Mr. Hoyt didn't last as long as the litigation. The TaxProf reports that he died in prison earlier this month.

This cow is not believed to be associated with a Hoyt partnership.