Opinion ID: 179430
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Unpaid Corporate Taxes

Text: Finally, Edkins challenges the inclusion of $31,135 in taxes allegedly owed by Baby Bliss for tax years 1999–2000 on the grounds that his guilty plea encompassed tax violations only for the years 1995–1998. Commentary to U.S.S.G. § 2T1.1, however, provides that, in determining the tax loss attributable to the offense, “all conduct violating the tax laws should be considered as part of the same course of conduct or common scheme or plan unless the evidence demonstrates that the conduct is clearly unrelated.” U.S.S.G. § 2T1.1 cmt. n.2. This court has held that “‘all conduct violating the tax laws’ must refer to all relevant criminal conduct underlying the charged offense,” United States v. Daniel, 956 F.2d 540, 544 (6th Cir. 1992) (emphasis omitted), and that the guidelines permit “the use of tax loss resulting from uncharged [criminal] conduct” in calculating total tax loss, United States v. Pierce, 17 F.3d 146, 150 (6th Cir. 1994). Edkins’s failure to file corporate tax returns for Baby Bliss in 1999 and 2000 qualifies as such relevant, uncharged criminal conduct. Accordingly, the district court did not clearly err by including these funds in the tax-loss calculation. - 10 - No. 08-2605 United States v. Edkins