Gene H. Yamagata v. the United States 07-698t and

OPINION

FIRESTONE, Judge.

This consolidated tax case turns on whether Forever Living Products Japan (“FLPJ”) 1 was properly characterized as an “association,” and thus correctly taxed as a corporation under the Internal Revenue Code (“IRC”) for the 1991-1996 tax years. Plaintiffs Rex Maughan (“Maughan”) and Ruth Maughan, husband and wife (“the Maughan’s”), and Gene Yamagata (“Yamagata”), both 50% stockholders, 2 treated FLPJ as a corporation when they initially filed their returns for tax years 1991 through 1996. Plaintiffs now claim that agreements into which they entered during the early…