United States v. William R. Smith, United States of America v. Jack H. Wright, United States of America v. Billy R. Poulsen

Defendants appeal from a 30-day jail sentence and a fine of $250 following conviction of violating 26 U.S.C. § 7205 , which makes it a misdemeanor willfully to supply false information upon an Internal Revenue Service form.

Defendants, protesting the withholding of income tax from the wages of workmen, elected to declare a sufficient number of nonexistent dependents to make certain that no taxes would be withheld. One defendant filed a W-4 form claiming 17 dependents, the others claimed 10 each. All three sent letters to the Internal Revenue Service in which they stated that they had inflated their number of dependents to prevent their wages from being illegally seized.

Defendants now contend that they were entitled to engage in these theatrics because they had no “intent to defraud.” In a misdemeanor prosecution, however, the government need not prove fraud, loss of revenue, or reliance' by the government. The offense is made out when a person required by 'law to complete and file a W-4 intentionally uses the form to supply false information. United States v. Malinowski, 472 F.2d 850 (3rd Cir. 1973).

Our system of self-assessment and concurrent payment of taxes as income is…