Robert M. Nesmith v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue

The taxpayer claims the three-year statute of limitations of I.R.C. § 6501(a) (1976) 1 began to run when he filed non-fraudulent amended income tax returns, notwithstanding the fact that his original returns were admittedly fraudulent. The Tax Court agreed. However, we interpret the statute as imposing no limitations period under such circumstances, and reverse.

Nesmith and his wife filed fraudulent joint income tax returns for the years 1970, 1971 and 1972. In 1973, after the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) initiated an investigation of the Nesmiths, they filed amended returns for these years.…