United States v. L. P. Graham

The United States appeals from judgment of the district court granting ap-pellee a refund of penalties in the sum of $1,940.34, assessed by the Arizona District Director of Internal Revenue for failure of appellee to collect, account for and pay over certain taxes owed by Tucson Football Cowboys, Inc., a corporation.

The assessment was made pursuant to §§ 6671(b) and 6672 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, 26 U.S.C.A. §§ 6671 (b), 6672, which sections are set forth in the margin.

In granting the refund the district court concluded that Graham was not a person required to collect or pay over the taxes in question. This ruling is assigned as error on this appeal.

In support of the district court Graham here contends that he was not a “person,” as defined in § 6671(b), since he was simply a member of the corporation’s board of directors, was not employed by the corporation and did not serve as an executive officer.

This is too narrow a reading of the section. The term “person” does include officer and employee, but certainly does not exclude all others. Its scope is illustrated rather than qualified by the specified examples. In our judgment the section must be construed to…