Except When It Isn’t

Judge Elizabeth A (“Tex”) Copeland delivers that message to Anjali Soni, who trusted, still trusts, and will trust, her husband with all financial and tax matters. Anjali wouldn’t even sign a tax return, or any other paper, lest it be a divorce paper; if that sounds contradictory, well, that’s how Anjali was brought up in her subcontinental homeland.

This is a tacit consent case, although Judge Tex Copeland never uses the word. The issue here is joint-and-several; was there a joint return, and a joint designation of a representative?

Judge Tex Copeland finds Anjali gets all the consequences of a decade of utter passivity in Om P. Soni & Anjali Soni, 2021 T. C. Memo. 137*, filed 12/1/21. But it’s not a Happy Palindrome Day for Om and Anjali. Their $1.1 million Sub S loss founders for want of provable basis, Om (a highly-credentialed businessman) admitting that he “… was aware that he should have kept records of the [Sub S] and admitted that he did not keep proper records of this transaction. In correspondence with respondent Om indicated that the [Sub S] transactions were ‘based on trust and not properly documented the way a normal business transaction would be.’ No documents were produced at trial.” 2021 T. C. Memo. 137, at pp. 39-40.

Om and Anjali tried SOL, and there was a bunch Forms 872 (hi, Judge Holmes) over the decade that IRS and the Sonis were backing-and-forthing. Om and Anjali claim their trusty CPA forged their signatures on POAs and 872s, but waited for the trial to say so. A wee bit late, says Judge Tex Copeland.

Anjali claims she never filed nuthin’ and signed nuthin’, but she knew there were taxes and led a comfortable life, ignoring the mail she picked up almost every day, even when addressed both to her and to Om from the IRS. Lack of action, with knowledge, constitutes consent. Refusing to sign while accepting benefits and saying nothing constitutes consent. Anjali should have heeded a former US President: “Trust, but verify.”

When IRS gets involved, ignorance stops being bliss.

*Om P Soni and Anjali Soni 2021 T C Memo 137 12 1 21