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Update on Haynes v US: Fifth Circuit Remands and Punts on Whether Boyle Applies in E-Filing Cases

Posted on Feb. 12, 2019

One of the foundational principles in tax procedure is that reliance on an accountant or lawyer to file a tax return cannot in and of itself constitute reasonable cause to avoid a late-filing penalty. The Supreme Court said as much in the 1985 case United States v Boyle. Over the last few years taxpayers and practitioners have started to challenge Boyle in the e-filing context. The basic question is whether courts should reconsider the bright line Boyle rule when a taxpayer provides her tax information to her preparer and the preparer purports to e-file the return, but for some reason the IRS rejects the return and the taxpayer arguably has little reason to suspect that the return was not actually filed.

Sometimes the preparer may fail to receive a rejection notice from the IRS; sometimes the preparer gets the reject notice and fails to tell the client. In either situation, the client then gets a surprise letter from the IRS months or maybe years later, leading to late filing penalties.

In the case of the Hayneses, the taxpayers heard from their accountant/preparer that on the last day for filing their 2010 tax return he had in fact e-filed the return. But for some reason the Social Security Number erroneously appeared on the line designated for an employment-identification number, and the IRS rejected the return. The preparer did not get a reject notice and neither he nor his clients took any steps to confirm that the IRS processed the supposedly e-filed return. After eventually receiving IRS correspondence the taxpayers filed their return and paid a late filing penalty. They sought a refund for the penalty, first with the IRS and then after the IRS denied the claim in federal district court. The district court granted the government summary judgment, concluding that as a matter of law under Boyle the taxpayers could not rely on their accountant to satisfy a return filing obligation even if the return filing process in the 21st century differs in kind from what was done back in the Reagan years.

In last month’s brief opinion, the Fifth Circuit took a different approach to the dispute. While noting that the application of Boyle in the 21stcentury world of e-filing is an “interesting” issue, it remanded the case back to the district court. It did so because it believed that there was a factual dispute that the lower court needed to resolve before it could even get to the legal issue:

Whether it was reasonable for Dunbar [the accountant] to assume, based on the IRS’s silence, that it had accepted the Hayneses’ return or whether ordinary business care and prudence would demand that he personally contact the IRS to ensure acceptance is a genuine question of material fact for the jury to decide. Because Dunbar is the Hayneses’ agent, if a jury determines that his actions meet the reasonable-cause standard, it must find the same to be true for the Hayneses—barring any determination of independent negligence by them.   After all, principals are not only bound by their agents’ failures, as in Boyle, but also by their diligence.

If, as a matter of fact, it was reasonable for the accountant to assume that the IRS accepted the return without seeking confirmation, then the penalty does not stand. If, however, the jury finds it was not reasonable, then the 21st century Boyle issue is teed up:

It is this question of material fact that makes it unnecessary for us to decide whether a broad e-filing exception to Boyle exists. That complex question need only be answered if Dunbar, in fact, acted negligently in filing the Hayneses’ tax return. Only then would the Hayneses be relegated to relying solely on their reliance on Dunbar to meet the reasonable-cause standard, thereby teeing up the Boyle question.

Conclusion

We will closely follow this case, as well as the handful of other cases that are percolating in the courts that raise the issue.

For prior PT coverage on this issue, see our post on the lower court opinion in the Haynes case and our post discussing a similar issue in the Spottiswood case. Those posts generated thoughtful comments and also link to some other useful sources.

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