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[303 U.S. 391, 392] Messrs. Homer S. Cummings, Atty. Gen., and Edward S. Greenbaum, of New York City, for petitioner.
Mr. William Wallace, of New York City, for respondent.
Mr. Justice BRANDEIS delivered the opinion of the Court.
Revenue Act of 1928, c. 852, 293, 45 Stat. 791, 858, 26 U.S.C.A. 293 and note provides, in dealing with assessment of deficiencies in income tax returns: '(b) Fraud. If any part of any deficiency is due to fraud with intent to evade tax, then 50 per centum of the total amount of the deficiency (in addition to such deficiency) shall be so assessed, collected, and paid.'
The question for decision is whether assessment of the addition is barred by the acquittal of the defendant on an indictment under section 146(b) of the same act 26 U.S.C.A. 145(b) and note, for a willful attempt to evade and defeat the tax.
The Commissioner of Internal Revenue found that Charles E. Mitchell of New York had, in his income tax return for the year 1929, fraudulently deducted from admitted gross income an alleged loss of $2,872,305.50 from a purported sale of 18,300 shares of National City Bank stock to his wife; that he had fraudulently failed to return the sum of $666,666.67 received by him as a distribution from the management fund of the National City Company, of which he was chairman; and that these fraudulent acts were done with intent to evade the tax. On December 8, 1933, the Commissioner notified Mitchell that there was a deficiency in his tax return of $728, 709.84 and, on account of the fraud, a 50 per cent. addition thereto in the sum of $364,354.92.
Mitchell appealed to the Board of Tax Appeals, which sustained the Commissioner's determination. Mitchell v. Com'r, 32 B.T.A. 1093. Upon a petition for review, the Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that there was ample evidence to support the Board's findings that Mitchell had fraudulently made deduction of the loss and that he had fraudulently failed to return the amount received from the management fund; and that, despite the facts hereafter stated, [303 U.S. 391, 396] the Board was free to find the facts according to the evidence. It accordingly affirmed the assessment of the deficiency of $728,709.84; but it reversed the Board's approval of the additional assessment of $364,354. 92, because of the following facts:
Before the deficiency assessment was made Mitchell had been indicted in the federal court for Southern New York under section 146(b) of the Revenue Act of 1928, 26 U.S.C.A. 145(b), which provides: 'Any person ... who willfully attempts in any manner to evade or defeat any tax imposed by this title or the payment thereof, shall, in addition to other penalties provided by law, be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, be fined not more than $10,000, or imprisoned for not more than five years, or both, together with the costs of prosecution.'
The first count charged that Mitchell 'unlawfully, willfully, knowingly, feloniously, and fraudulently did attempt to defeat and evade an income tax of, to wit, $728,709.84, upon his net income for 1929.' He was tried on the indictment and acquitted on all the counts. The item of $ 728,709.84 set out in the first count is the same item as that involved in the deficiency assessed; and both arose from the same transactions of Mitchell. But the addition of $364,354.92 by reason of fraud was not involved in the indictment.
The Circuit Court of Appeals held that the prior judgment of acquittal was not a bar under the doctrine of res judicata; and hence it affirmed the assessment of the $728,709.84. But it held that our decisions in Coffey v. United States,
First. Mitchell contends that the claim for the 50 per cent. is barred by the doctrine of res judicata. He asserts that all the facts and intents requisite to the imposition of the 50 per centum addition to the deficiency were put in issue and determined against the Government in the criminal trial, and that hence, under the doctrine of res judicata, the judgment of acquittal bars it from obtaining a second judgment based upon the same facts and intents. Since this proceeding to determine whether the amount claimed is payable as a tax is a proceeding different in its nature from the indictment for the crime of willfully attempting to evade the tax, the contention that the doctrine of estoppel by judgment applies rests wholly on the assertion that the issues here presented were litigated and determined in the criminal proceeding. Compare Tait v. Western Maryland Ry. Co.,
The difference in degree of the burden of proof in criminal and civil cases precludes application of the doctrine of res judicata. The acquittal was 'merely ... an adjudication that the proof was not sufficient to overcome all reasonable doubt of the guilt of the accused.' Lewis v. Frick,
The Government urges that application of the doctrine of res judicata is precluded also by the difference in the issues presented in the two cases; that although the indictment and this proceeding arise out of the same transactions and facts, the issues in them are not the same; that on the indictment the issue was whether Mitchell had 'willfully' attempted to 'evade or defeat' the tax; that whether he had done so 'fraudulently' was not there an issue, United States v. Scharton,
Second. Mitchell contends that this proceeding is barred under the doctrine of double jeopardy because the 50 per centum addition of $364,354. 92 is not a tax, but a criminal penalty intended as punishment for allegedly fraudulent acts. Unless this sanction was intended as punishment, so that the proceeding is essentially criminal, [303 U.S. 391, 399] the double jeopardy clause provided for the defendant in criminal prosecutions is not applicable.
1.
In assessing income taxes the Government relies primarily upon the disclosure by the taxpayer of the relevant facts. This disclosure it requires him to make in his annual return. To ensure full and honest disclosure, to discourage fraudulent attempts to evade the tax, Congress imposes sanctions. Such sanctions may confessedly be either criminal or civil. As stated in Oceanic Steam Navigation Co. v. Stranahan,
Congress may impose both a criminal and a civil sanction in respect to the same act or omission; for the double jeopardy clause prohibits merely punishing twice, or attempting a second time to punish criminally, for the same offense. The question for decision is thus whether section 293(b) imposes a criminal sanction. That question is one of statutory construction. Compare Murphy v. United States,
Remedial sanctions may be of varying types. One which is characteristically free of the punitive criminal element is revocation of a privilege voluntarily granted.
2
[303
U.S. 391, 400]
Forfeiture of goods or their value and the payment of fixed or variable sums of money are other sanctions which have been recognized as enforceable by civil proceedings since the original revenue law of 1789. Act of July 31, 1789, c. 5, 36, 1 Stat. 29, 47. In spite of their comparative severity, such sanctions have been upheld against the contention that they are essentially criminal and subject to the procedural rules governing criminal prosecutions. Passavant v. United States,
3.
In sections 276 and 293, 26 U.S.C.A. 276, 293 and notes, it is provided that collection of the 50 per centum addition, like that of the primary tax it-
[303
U.S. 391, 402]
self, may be made 'by distraint' as well as 'by a proceeding in court.' If the section provided a criminal sanction, the provision for collection by distraint would make it unconstitutional.
6
Compare Lipke v. Lederer,
4. The fact that the Revenue Act of 1928 contains two separate and distinct provisions imposing sanctions, and that these appear in different parts of the statute, helps to make clear the character of that here invoked. 14 The sanction of fine and imprisonment prescribed by section 146( b) for willful attempts 'in any manner to evade or de- [303 U.S. 391, 405] feat any (income) tax,' introduced into the act under the heading 'Penalties,' is obviously a criminal one. The sanction of 50 per centum addition 'if any part of any deficiency is due to fraud with intent to evade tax,' prescribed by section 293(b), introduced into the act under the heading 'Additions to the tax,' was clearly intended as a civil one. This sanction, and other additions to the tax are set forth in Supplement M, entitled 'Interest and Additions to the Tax.' The supplement includes, besides section 293(b), sections 291, 292, 293(a), and 294, 26 U.S.C.A. 291, 292, 293(a), 294 and notes. Section 291 prescribes a 25 per centum addition for failure to make and file a return; section 292 prescribes interest at the rate of 6 per cent. per annum upon the deficiency from the date prescribed for payment of the tax; section 293(a), an addition of 5 per centum if the deficiency 'is due to negligence, or intentional disregard of rules and regulations but without intent to defraud'; and section 294 prescribes an addition to the tax of 1 per centum per month in case of nonpayment. Obviously all of these 'additions to the Tax' were intended by Congress as civil incidents of the assessment and collection of the income tax. 15
Third. Mitchell insists that Coffey v. United States,
REVERSED.
Mr. Justice McREYNOLDS is of opinion that the judgment of the Circuit Court of Appeals should be affirmed.
Mr. Justice CARDOZO and Mr. Justice REED took no part in the consideration or decision of this case.
[
Footnote 1
] United States v. Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc., D.C.E.D.Mo., 13 F. Supp. 614, affirmed on other grounds
[
Footnote 2
] Typical of this class of sanctions is the deportation of aliens. Fong Yue Ting v. United States,
[
Footnote 3
] See, also, notes 7 to 13, infra. The distinction here taken between sanctions that are remedial and those that are punitive has not generally been specifically enunciated. In determining whether particular rules of criminal procedure are applicable to civil actions to enforce sanctions, the cases have usually attempted to distinguish between the type of procedural rule involved rather than the kind of sanction being enforced. Thus Hepner v. United States,
[
Footnote 4
] Taylor v. United States, 3 How. 197, 210; Bartlett v. Kane, 16 How. 263, 274; Cliquot's Champagne, 3 Wall. 114, 145; Dorsheimer v. United States, 7 Wall. 166, 173; Passavant v. United States,
[
Footnote 5
] Compare United States v. Claflin,
[
Footnote 6
] Even though Congress may not provide civil procedure for the enforcement of punitive sanctions, nothing in the Constitution prevents the enforcement of distinctly remedial sanctions by a criminal instead of a civil form of proceeding. Compare United States v. Stevenson,
[
Footnote 7
] Passavant v. United States,
Administrative determination of sanctions imposed by the income tax laws has likewise been upheld. Berlin v. Commissioner, 2 Cir., 59 F.2d 996, 997; McDowell v. Heiner, D.C.W.D.Pa., 9 F.2d 120, affirmed on opinion below, 3 Cir., 15 F.2d 1015; Board v. Commissioner, 6 Cir., 51 F.2d 73, 76; Wickham v. Commissioner, 8 Cir., 65 F.2d 527, 531, 532; Little v. Helvering, 8 Cir., 75 F.2d 436, 439; Bothwell v. Commissioner, 10 Cir., 77 F.2d 35, 38; Doll v. Evans, C.C.E.D.Pa., Fed.Cas.No.3,969.
[
Footnote 8
] Hepner v. United States,
[
Footnote 9
] Lilienthal's Tobacco v. United States,
[
Footnote 10
] Compare United States v. Claflin,
Similarly, if the Government is successful it may recover costs as in other civil suits. Grant Bros. Const. Co. v. United States,
[
Footnote 11
] United States v. Zucker,
[
Footnote 12
] Compare United States ex rel. Bilokumsky v. Tod,
[
Footnote 13
] Murphy v. United States,
[ Footnote 14 ] The Board of Tax Appeals said in Mitchell v. Commissioner, 32 B.T. A. 1093, 1136: 'A careful study of the two sections convinces us that they are basically different in character and were enacted for wholly different purposes. The language of the two sections differs widely and contemplates situations which may require entirely dissimilar proof.'
[ Footnote 15 ] Section 104, Revenue Act of 1928, 45 Stat. 814, imposes a somewhat similar additional tax of 50 per cent. of the net income in the case of corporations formed or availed of for the purpose of avoiding surtax on their shareholders through improper accumulation of surplus. Compare United Business Corporation v. Commissioner, 2 Cir., 62 F.2d 754.
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Citation: 303 U.S. 391
No. 324
Argued: January 14, 1938
Decided: March 07, 1938
Court: United States Supreme Court
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