Cheek v. United States

Facts

Cheek had been a pilot for American Airlines since 1973. He filed federal income tax returns through 1979 and then stopped filing. He claimed more and more withholding allowances, reaching 60 by mid-1980. For the years 1981 to 1984 he wrote on his W-4 forms that he was exempt from federal income taxes. His income was always far above the minimum that triggers the filing requirement. He was indicted on six counts of willfully failing to file a return and three counts of willfully attempting to evade income taxes. At trial the Government showed that Cheek had taken part in at least four civil cases challenging the tax system, and that courts had told the plaintiffs in those cases that many of their arguments were frivolous or had been repeatedly rejected. He had also attended at least two criminal tax trials. Cheek represented himself and testified that as early as 1978 he had begun attending seminars of a group that believes the federal tax system is unconstitutional. He also produced a letter from an attorney saying the Sixteenth Amendment did not authorize a tax on wages. His defense was that he sincerely believed his conduct was lawful, so he had not acted willfully.

Issues

1. Must a defendant's good-faith misunderstanding of the tax laws be objectively reasonable before it can negate the willfulness required for the federal criminal tax offenses of failing to file and of evasion?
2. Does a defendant's good-faith belief that the tax laws are unconstitutional negate willfulness under those statutes?

Holding

A good-faith misunderstanding of what the tax laws require, if the jury credits it, negates willfulness whether or not it is objectively reasonable, so instructing the jury to disregard Cheek's beliefs that wages are not income and that he was not a taxpayer was error. But in a case like this, a defendant's views about the validity of the tax statutes are irrelevant to willfulness, frivolous or not.