Wily Tax Attorney Helps Win IRS Case from Beyond the Grave
His own case is still ongoing, some seven years after his death. But tax attorney Burton Kanter’s wily plan for avoiding excessive payments in a nearly 20-year-old income tax matter has now been okayed by an 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel hearing a co-defendant’s case.
And that 11th Circuit ruling may now prove persuasive to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel hearing the appeal of Kanter’s own related case being pursued by his estate, reports the Wall Street Journal Law Blog. Another deceased co-defendant, whose related appeal is being brought by his estate in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals could also benefit.
Luck played a role, too, in the green light given to Kanter’s scheme, the WSJ blog notes: In 1999, a U.S. tax court judge ruled in favor of the Internal Revenue Service. But unfortunately for the IRS the judge erroneously indicated the opposite in his written opinion, which carried the day.