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Filing Form 1040 did not Extend Statute for Filing Form 945

Posted on Sep. 20, 2018

Last year I wrote about the case of Quezada v. IRS. In the aspect of the case decided last summer, the bankruptcy court refused to grant summary judgment to the IRS regarding the statute of limitations for the taxpayer to file Form 945. The taxpayer argued that his Form 1040 provided the IRS with the information necessary and started the statute of limitations. The taxpayer needed the Form 1040 to serve as a surrogate Form 945 in order to discharge the liabilities it should have reported on Form 945. Now, the court has ruled on the issue and found for the IRS in Adv. Proc. No. 16-01101 (Bankr. W.D. Tex. 2018). The court provides a thoughtful analysis for its decision.

Mr. Quezada operates a masonry company that builds projects for general contractors. He hires subcontractors to perform some of the work and provided to the subcontractors Forms 1099. The problem occurred because the Forms 1099 contained missing or incorrect TINs of the subcontractors. A missing or inaccurate TIN prevents the IRS from effectively using the Form 1099 to check on the reporting by the subcontractor. So, the IRS sent Mr. Quezada a notice in September 2006 that the 1099s had missing or inaccurate information and that if he did not correct the situation he had to start backup withholding. The IRS sent the same notice in 2007 and twice in 2009.

In 2008 the IRS began examining Mr. Quezada regarding his backup withholding liability for the subcontractors. This ultimately led to the recommendation of an assessment of $600,000 plus penalties of over $300,000. He eventually filed bankruptcy in which the IRS filed a claim for over $1.2 million. He brought an action to determine dischargeability arguing that the IRS waited too long to make its assessment. Mr. Quezada argued that his timely filed Forms 1040 and 1099 started the running of the statute of limitations on assessment while the IRS countered that he had an obligation to file Form 945 and his failure to file that form meant the statute never began running.

When a business pays an independent contractor, it must deduct backup withholding if the independent contractor fails to provide its TIN or if the IRS notifies the business that the TIN is incorrect. In addition to the backup withholding, the business must also file Form 945. Mr. Quezada argued that he had all of the TINs in a notebook but did not provide a record to the court and he had previously signed a sworn statement that he “did not obtain Social Security numbers (SSN) OR Taxpayer identification numbers (TIN) from all of [his] subcontractors.” The failure of proof in the trial coupled with the admission against interest caused the court to find that he had an obligation to file Forms 945.

Having found he had a duty to file the Forms 945, the court then looked at whether his failure to do so could somehow be excused. In Commissioner v. Lane-Wells, 321 U.S. 219 (1944) the Supreme Court analyzed whether a taxpayer who had filed a Form 1120 satisfied the requirement for filing a Form 1120H for holding companies. It found that Lane-Wells did not meet its statutory requirement for filing a return with respect to the holding company liability. The bankruptcy court found that Mr. Quezada, like Lane-Wells, had a separate liability requiring him to file two returns and preventing him from relying on the Form 1040 to satisfy his backup withholding liability.

The court also addressed his argument that he provided sufficient data to meet the Beard test. Beard v. Commissioner, 82 T.C. 766 (1984), aff’d 793 F.2d 139 (6th Cir. 1986) establishes the well-recognized test for what constitutes a return. Even though the bankruptcy court found that he had a responsibility to file the Form 945 return, if he could convince the court that his submissions on the Form 1040 essentially provided the information needed for the Form 945 he could meet the filing requirement. Beard has four tests: 1) sufficient data to calculate the tax liability; 2) document must purport to be a return; 3) honest and reasonable attempt to satisfy the tax law requirements; and 4) execution of the return under penalties of perjury.

The court found that he failed the second and fourth tests. He argued that missing TINs are “not relevant to his tax liability.” The court rejected this argument pointing out that the IRS needs to have the TINs in order for the Form 1099 to have meaning. The data provided did not meet the needs of the IRS and could not be considered sufficient. With respect to the third test the court explained that the IRS told him on several occasions of his failure and need to correct. His failure to correct over an extended period of time negates any argument that he acted in good faith and reasonably attempted to satisfy his tax law requirements.

This type of case provides a horrible result for a taxpayer such as Mr. Quezada if the subcontractors actually paid their taxes. Earlier this year we blogged about a case involving the misclassification of workers. We also posted a response from the National Taxpayer Advocate to our blog post. The situation faced by Mr. Quezada has similarities with the misclassification cases. The goal of backup withholding is ensuring that the third parties report their income to the IRS. If Mr. Quezada could show that his independent contractors actually reported their taxes, there should be some way to relieve him of at least a part of his liability. By failing to follow the rules, he causes the IRS to expend a fair amount of effort and for that he should be penalized. At the same time it seems he should have a path to reduce this crushing liability if he can prove that his independent contractors reported and paid the proper amount of tax. Maybe they did not pay and maybe, even if they did, he could not prove it but it seems a shame he does not have a chance to show that his failure did not result in loss to the IRS.

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