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Restitution Order, IRA Account, Community Property = Unfortunate Result for Non-Liable Spouse

Posted on Feb. 11, 2019

It’s never a good thing for your spouse to be the subject of a $2,165,126 restitution order. You know when that comes out in the first few sentences of an opinion that things do not look good for the non-liable spouse. That proves true in United States v. Berry, No. 4:17-cr-00385 (S.D. Tex. 2018).

From the perspective of the IRS, this case presents the not always available situation of a wayward party who still has assets after a criminal prosecution. Here, the asset takes the form of an IRA. An IRA generally does not provide the best place to hold assets if you seek to protect them from creditors. Here, the court mentions the general rule that ERISA does not govern IRAs as a shorthand way to state that the substantial protections from creditors afforded to individuals holding assets in an account covered by ERISA do not apply when the retirement account instead exists in an IRA. The court does not make mention of the fact that ERISA’s protections do not insulate a taxpayer from the collection tools available to the IRS. Because of the way this case arises, I am unsure if the IRS tools are available here. So, the fact the account existed in an IRA could make a crucial difference not always present in federal tax collection cases.

The Berrys live in Texas although I am unsure where Mrs. Berry is serving her 51 month sentence for wire fraud, mail fraud and filing a false tax return in violation of IRC 7206. In this case the government seeks to obtain 100% of Mrs. Berry’s retirement account and 50% of Mr. Berry’s account. The Berrys make four legal arguments and one equitable argument in an effort to protect their accounts. I will go through the arguments in the order presented by the court. Spoiler alert – none of the arguments work for the Berrys.

Federal Pre-emption

They argue that retirement funds are not community property. The retirement accounts are IRAs. The court finds that because the funds are held in IRAs and not ERISA protected retirement accounts, no pre-emption of state community property laws exists.

State Law

They argue that the retirement accounts are governed by Pennsylvania law because the custodial agreement says that the funds are governed by the law of that state which happens to be the state where Vanguard is located. Mrs. Berry argues that Pennsylvania law (and Texas law if PA law does not apply) waives her rights in the accounts and removes them from community property. She did not sign a specific waiver of her community interest in the property. Because she did not waive her interest in community property, the court finds that the retirement accounts are community property allowing the restitution liens to attach. The court cites United States v. Elashi, 789 F.3d 537, 551 (5th Cir. 2015) in support of its position. Since Mrs. Berry had a ½ interest in Mr. Berry’s solely managed community property, the government can seek to obtain her half interest in that account.

Consumer Credit Protection Act

The Berrys argue that even if the government can reach half of Mr. Berry’s retirement account despite the previous two arguments, its ability to reach Mrs. Berry’s community property interest in Mr. Berry’s property is limited to no more than 25% pursuant to section 30 of the Consumer Credit Protection Act. This Act limits the maximum garnishment to 25% of the earnings for that week. The court finds that the weekly limitation imposed by this act depends on whether Mr. Berry is limited to receiving periodic payments or has the ability to cash out. Because he has the ability to take out the entire amount at any time, the government is not limited in the amount of Mrs. Berry’s interest that it can obtain.

Facially Invalid

The Berrys argue that the writ of garnishment issued in this case overstates the amount due because it includes a future debt to the IRS not currently due. The court finds that the amount listed does not invalidate the writ of garnishment.

Equity for Mr. Berry

The Berrys argue that even if their legal arguments do not prevail it would be a significant strain on Mr. Berry to allow the government to take half of his retirement account. The case does not make clear how his finances would be impacted by the taking of half of this account. Certainly taking half of funds in his IRA limits his future ability to take distributions but what that does to his finances is unclear. Perhaps the court does not go into this type of detail because the court finds this type of equitable argument to be unavailing where the government has the legal right to take the property. It seems that the Berrys were essentially asking for the court to create something akin to the Rodgers factors and apply them to this situation.

I think that something could be made of the Rodgers factors in a case like this if the facts support Mr. Berry’s need for the funds in order to avoid seeking benefits from the state. The equitable portion of the opinion is too short to provide an adequate description of the arguments made by the Berrys or the thought process of the court.

Conclusion

Similar to the result in bankruptcy, holding funds in an IRA provides little more protection from creditors than holding funds in an ordinary bank account. Because the government is collecting pursuant to a restitution order rather than a tax assessment, its ability to use the powerful collection tools of the IRC may be limited but that does not matter here. The court does not discuss whether the restitution order would allow the IRS to assess all of part of the amount in the order. If some or all of the restitution order covered taxes, then it could have gone about collection by first assessing the taxes and then pursuing normal federal tax collection alternatives as discussed here.

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