Court rules you probably shouldn't rely on your dentist for tax advice

A federal appeals court today upheld the 3-year prison sentences given a Cape couple who stopped paying their federal taxes on the advice of their dentist.

The US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston ruled today that Frederick and Kimberlee Allen not only got a fair trial in 2010 on charges they didn't pay any taxes between 1999 and 2008 despite annual income of more than $100,000, but that the judge in their trial made a point of telling the jury it could not convict them if they really believed they were acting in good faith, despite warnings from the IRS and the conviction of the alleged financial planner who later took on advising them on tax matters after they agreed their dentist knew what he was talking about when he said they didn't owe the government a dime:

In this case, the Allens claimed that, in general, ordinary wage earners were not subject to tax on their income because the Internal Revenue Code did not say they were liable. Improbable though their profession of belief may seem, the jury was instructed up, down and sideways that they were entitled to be acquitted if they held this belief in good faith. The jury did not credit them on what is an issue of fact, namely, the sincerity of their professed beliefs.

• Complete ruling, United States of America vs. Frederick Allen and Kimberlee Allen
• Department of Justice statement on the case