Law Commons^™

The Sixth Amendment And Expert Witnesses In Criminal Tax Cases, Steve R. Johnson

Scholarly Publications

Recently, in the Baxter case, a federal district court vacated the sentence imposed as a result of a guilty plea in a criminal tax case. The court held that the failure of defense counsel to retain the services of an expert in tax crimes sentencing violated the defendant’s Sixth Amendment right to effective representation.

This installment of the Tax Crimes column explores Baxter. Part A briefly notes the civil and criminal tax contexts in which tax experts are used. Part B describes Baxter and its holding. Part C asks whether defense counsel in criminal tax cases should always retain a …

The Work Product Doctrine And Tax Accrual Workpapers, Steve R. Johnson

Scholarly Publications

In its rehearing of Textron, the First Circuit has an opportunity to rectify an error and curb unwise recent expansion of work product protection for tax accrual workpapers. In August 2007, a district court denied the government’s petition for enforcement of an IRS summons on Textron Inc. and its subsidiaries for tax accrual workpapers in connection with IRS examinations of the taxpayers’ 1998 to 2001 income tax returns. A divided panel of the First Circuit affirmed in January 2009. In March 2009, the First Circuit withdrew the panel opinion and dissent, and it set the case for en banc hearing …