IRS AUDIT AND RAMIFICATIONS; FBI INVOLVEMENT
Various items discussed in the Dealership History narrative include links to Expanded Details that provide additional information and links to supporting documents. The subjects with expanded details are listed in the column on the right side of the website under the “Expanded Details – IRS Audits and Ramifications” heading. The Expanded Details may be accessed by clicking on the links either within the Dealership History content, or by scrolling down in the column to the right. ————————————————————————————————————->
Summary of IRS Audit and Related Events
Out of the many “chapters” of the story of GM’s engineering of my demise, I have broken out the IRS-related items as a separate subplot, as it developed into a story of its own that continued into 2012 and ended with a cover-up. The IRS items are summarized chronologically with other GM damaging actions in the Dealership History narrative, and then discussed in detail with supporting documents in the Expanded Detail sections with links in the right column of the website.
Following is a list of the IRS-related Expanded Detail sections, and summaries of the significance of each to what I believe was GM/IRS collusion to harass me into giving up my franchises after I rejected GM’s multiple attempts to get me to sell for its desired factory takeover of dealerships on my street.
- (2005) First IRS Audit: IRS internally initiated the audit on my dealership corporation the day after a secret GM e-mail sequence outlining a conspired GM employee scheme to induce my exit after I had refused to sell. IRS audit zeroed in on a dealership expense that had been ongoing since 1995, and had been known to, and approved by, GM’s Motors Holding Division. The IRS Revenue Agent disallowed the deduction of the expense for the 2003 and 2004 tax years, causing the corporation to be liable for tax on the deduction. I did not challenge the determination because the disallowance, in turn, created a 2005 personal deduction for me that was more favorable than the disallowed corporate deduction. The IRS Agent acknowledged that my assessment of the deductibility was correct. Many factors and documents described and contained herein leave virtually no doubt that GM had initiated the audit with the IRS.
- (2007-2008) Second IRS Audit: In February 2008, the same IRS Agent from 2005 requested an appointment to review documentation to prove the deduction I had taken on my 2005 personal tax return. After I provided the requested documentation, the IRS Agent acknowledged that it substantiated the basis for the deduction. However, he subsequently found another reason to disallow it. I reminded the Agent of his agreement in 2005 that the personal deduction was valid, which he acknowledged. He responded that after he was assigned the new case, in 2008 he wanted to accept my 2005 return as filed, but his manager overrode him in a rare action and required that he find a reason to disallow it. In deciding whether to contest the disallowance, I considered the already existing stress and expense of my concurrent lawsuit against GM and GMAC, the dismal state of the auto business placing great demands on my time, and then the additional time demand and stress that would accompany contesting the Agent’s determination. As such, I reluctantly decided to pay the $111,488 tax and interest in July 2008.
- (2009a-2011) IRS Admits 2008 Audit Tax Was Wrong, Refunds Signer $121,639 With Interest: After I paid the tax assessment in July 2008, multiple clues later surfaced that pointed to GM involvement with the second audit as well. After adding this new information to the fact that I felt that the audit determination was grossly improper, in April 2009, I filed a 2005 Form 1040X to claim refund of the $111,488 I paid in 2008. An IRS Agent finally contacted me in February 2010, after which I met with him multiple times and provided extensive documentation he requested. With the review of my refund claim still ongoing, on June 21, 2010, I sent a detailed and document-supported complaint describing my observation that the IRS had conspired with GM in the 2005 and 2008 audits to the Treasury Department. In July 2010, the IRS Agent, apparently supported by his Acting Manager, concluded that the IRS’s disallowance was wrong, and I would receive the refund I had requested. As he was preparing to write his final conclusion, at the last minute on approximately July 15, the Agent was assigned a new Acting Manager, in eerie coincidence twenty days after the Treasury Department received my letter alleging GM/IRS collusion. The new manager rejected the Agent’s well-researched conclusion, and required that the Agent do further research to find a reason to disallow my claim for refund in order to support his pre-determined edict. The Agent complied, and rewrote his favorable conclusion (of which I have a copy) to result in a denial of my claim. After receiving the denial, I filed for Appeals, which was then followed by a higher-level override to allow my claim without going to Appeals. Finally in February 2011, I received a refund of $121,639, which included interest from the time I paid the tax in 2008.
- (2009b-2011) California Assesses $34,000 Tax & Interest Based On 2008 IRS Audit, Then Reverses: In mid-2009, California’s income tax collection agency, the Franchise Tax Board, sent me a personal assessment for approximately $34,000 with interest for the 2005 tax year as a result of the IRS informing it of the 2008 audit assessment. It also later withheld my 2008 refund, for which I filed in August 2009. My CPA told the State that we had a pending IRS refund claim, which prompted the State to put the assessment on hold. In early 2010, I received notice from the California Franchise Tax Board that it had put a lien on my house because of the assessment it notified me of in June 2009. I contacted the agency to explain that the IRS refund claim was still pending, to which the representative responded that the lien would remain. In May 2011, after receiving notice of the IRS’s reversing its tax assessment, the California Franchise Tax Board refunded my 2008 refund with interest, and reversed its demand for approximately $34,000.
- (2009c-2011) IRS Withholds $29,101 Refund Due on 2008 Form 1045, Then Pays: When I filed my 2008 taxes in August 2009, I also filed a 2008 Form 1045, which carried back business losses to the 2006 tax year, creating a refund due of $29,101. Apparently due to the pending 2009 Form 1040X refund claim, the IRS put my 2008 Form 1045 refund claim on hold. My multiple subsequent attempts to get the IRS to process my claim were unsuccessful until June 2011 when the IRS finally refunded me the $29,101 without interest, despite holding it for nearly two years.
- (2010) Signer Reports Alleged GM/IRS Collusion to U. S. Treasury: As mentioned above, in June 2010 I sent the detailed complaint, with thirty supporting documents attached, to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA,) the Treasury Department’s office that investigates IRS fraud, waste, and abuse. My complaint alleged that GM and the IRS had conspired in the two IRS audits to financially and emotionally damage me as harassment to induce my exit. As a result of copies of the complaint I furnished to U. S. Congressman Pete Stark and Senator Barbara Boxer, each legislator sent an inquiry to the Treasury Department on my behalf.
- (2010-2011) U. S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) Secretly Avoids Investigation of Signer Allegations: After my repeated unsuccessful attempts to learn the status of the investigation, finally in early December 2010 a TIGTA Special Agent contacted me to ask questions related to the criminal investigation he indicated he was going to conduct. I subsequently made repeated attempts to learn the status, but was told nothing. In April 2011, both aforementioned Members of Congress received letters from the Treasury Department stating that it found no evidence of GM/IRS harassment conspiracy. In June 2011 I obtained internal documents that state that TIGTA did not investigate my allegations, thus proving that, in truth, TIGTA “found no evidence” because it didn’t look. Among other serious discrepancies in the internal TIGTA documents were clear indications that the Special Agent was removed from the case immediately after he contacted me to lead me to believe that a criminal investigation would be conducted.
- (2011) Signer Reports TIGTA Action to FBI: As a result of TIGTA’s secret non-investigation of my complaint of seemingly indisputable GM/IRS collusion to harass and damage me, as well as its deceptive letters to Congressman Stark and Senator Boxer, in September 2011 I reported to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) what appears to be a very disturbing cover-up by TIGTA. The Congressman and Senator followed my report with their inquiries to the FBI on my behalf. After my multiple subsequent contacts to the FBI to obtain the status of its investigation of my report, I learned that the FBI refused to investigate it. This refusal is despite the seemingly criminal actions indicated by internal TIGTA documents containing false statements to avoid investigation of my well-documented allegations of GM/IRS conspired harassment.
Expanded details and supporting documents are available in the right column. ———->
