Opinion ID: 3133038
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: First-Time Homebuyer Credit

Text: Thirteen of the counts of conviction include a false Form 5405, the document by which a taxpayer claims the Homebuyer Credit. James argues on appeal (as he did at trial) that he believed anyone who had purchased a home before the deadline for the relevant tax year “or [was] considering buying a home” could claim the credit. App. Br. 12–13. In James’s view, if a recipient of the credit failed to buy a home, he could repay the credit (with thanks to the Government for the interest-free loan). In fact, only those who have bought or contracted to buy a first home are eligible. 26 U.S.C § 36(h)(1)–(2). As ignorance of the law is a defense to criminal tax violations, Cheek v. United States, 498 U.S. 192, 199–200 (1991), James argues that his misunderstanding of the Internal Revenue Code precludes a conviction here. Although it is theoretically possible that James misunderstood the operation of the Homebuyer Credit, other inferences from the evidence are plausible (and that carries the day, as on appeal of a conviction we review the evidence in the light most favorable to the Government). Form 5405, which was attached to the tax returns that claimed the credit, requires the taxpayer (or preparer) to list the “[a]ddress of home qualifying for the credit” and the “[d]ate acquired” and states in the instructions that people may claim the credit only if they “purchased [their] main home located in the United States after April 8, 2008, and before December 1, 2009.” IRS Form 5405, 1 (Rev. Feb. 2009). One witness testified that James told them they could claim the credit simply by entering any 3 address in the field for the qualifying home, see Supp. App. 201:2–22 (testimony of Barry Thompson) (“[H]e told me to make up an address.”), another that the date listed was false (because she never acquired the house), id. at 346:25–347:3 (Rebecca Varney). Others testified that James claimed the “First-Time Homebuyer Credit” for them despite their already owning a home. Id. at 224:2–3 (testimony of Jacob McCarthy that he had owned a home since 2000 but that James told him to claim the credit anyway); id. at 464:12–17 (testimony of Edward Jones that he already owned a home and did not purchase a home at the address listed on his Form 5405). Given James’s years of experience as a tax preparer, which included training from two widely used national tax preparation companies, a reasonable juror could have concluded that James would have read and understood the form’s instructions. And, even without regard to his purported understanding of the credit, the evidence supports the conclusion that he wilfully entered materially false information, as when he encouraged Barry Thompson to make up an address and when he entered in a “[d]ate acquired” for the house Rebecca Varney never bought. James does not argue that he was unaware that it is a crime to enter false facts into a tax document, and thus his argument that the Government failed to prove he had the required intent falls short.