Tom Cryer

Cryer's statement in the petition, in explanation of why he disagreed with the IRS determination, was: "The amount of the claimed deficiency is disputed. The correct amount is $0.00." The trial, originally scheduled for January 10, 2011 in New Orleans, was postponed to December 5, 2011. On November 28, 2011, the Court granted a further delay to Cryer, with a requirement that both parties file a status report by January 9, 2012. On February 15, 2012, the Court granted another delay,. Trial had been re-scheduled for October 22, 2012, in New Orleans.

In 2009 Cryer's federal tax problems continued. On April 2, 2009, Cryer filed a petition in the United States Tax Court. Cryer's petition includes a copy of three statutory notices of deficiency issued by the Internal Revenue Service, all dated January 5, 2009, in which the IRS asserts that Cryer owes $1,719,436.71 in taxes and penalties for the years 1993 through 2001.

In May 2008, the court rejected Cryer's arguments, and his case was dismissed. The court ruled "that the disclosures at issue are covered by the 'investigative purposes' exception" of section 6103(k)(6). The court also rejected Cryer's claim that certain disclosures violated the rules on grand jury proceedings.

The prosecution dropped its allegations of tax evasion, on which the law provides a maximum prison term of five years against Cryer on July 9, 2007. Cryer was then tried on two counts of willful failure to file tax returns, for which the maximum jail sentence is one year in prison.

Cryer was acquitted on July 11, 2007. Cryer did not make any of his arguments about the legality of the income tax to the jury itself. Instead he asserted that he really did not believe that he owed the taxes, so there was no criminal intent. According to the New Hampshire Union Leader:

On December 26, 2007, Cryer instituted a civil suit against the United States government, alleging that criminal investigators with the Internal Revenue Service violated 26 U.S.C. § 6103 and other provisions of law by disclosing confidential information and injuring Cryer's reputation during their criminal investigation of Cryer. Cryer alleged that IRS employees disclosed to approximately thirty of Cryer's clients that Cryer was under investigation, and that the disclosures violated the law.

In October 2006, Cryer was indicted on two counts of tax evasion (26 U.S.C. § 7201).[3] In March 2007, two counts of willful failure to timely file tax returns (26 U.S.C. § 7203) were added to the charges. The indictment alleged that Cryer evaded over $73,000 in taxes in 2000 and 2001 by using a trust to receive payments of dividends, interests and stock income.

The government responded by stating that Cryer, "asserted various tax protester claims...and courts have rejected and discredited these claims" and countered Cryer's claim that the income generated from his law practice is not taxable, citing Commissioner v. Kowalski, 434 U.S. 77 (1977) (payments are considered income where the payments are undeniably accessions to wealth, clearly realized, and over which taxpayer has complete dominion); Lonsdale v. Commissioner, 661 F.2d 71, 72 (5th Cir. 1981) (rejecting taxpayer's contention that the "exchange of services for money is a zero-sum transaction"); Reading v. Commissioner, 70 T.C. 730 (1978), aff'd, 614 F.2d 159 (8th Cir. 1980) (monies received from the sale of one's services constitute income within the meaning of the Sixteenth Amendment).

According to a resume published by Cryer on his website, Cryer graduated with honors from Louisiana State University (LSU) Law School in 1973, and was inducted into the LSU Law School Hall of Fame in 1987. Cryer was a member of the Order of the Coif, a law school honor society. He served as a Special Advisor and Draftsman at the Louisiana Constitutional Convention in 1973 and he argued cases before the Louisiana Supreme Court. He opened a solo law practice in 1975 and gained experience in civil and criminal matters.

Tommy Keith Cryer, also known as Tom Cryer (September 11, 1949 in Lake Charles, Louisiana - June 4, 2012), was an attorney in Shreveport, Louisiana who was charged with and later acquitted of willful failure to file U.S. Federal income tax returns in a timely fashion. In a case in United States Tax Court, Cryer contested a determination by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service that he owed $1.7 million in taxes and penalties. Before the case could come to trial, Cryer died June 4, 2012. He was 62.