MEMORANDUM
FROM: THEODORE CRAFT
SUBJECT: WEBSITE
DATE: 5/4/2007
I am often asked to predict a result in a tax controversy. My standard response is that predictions do not hold. Each case is driven by its own evidence. What is the quality of my client's evidence? In what form does it present itself? The disposition of the government to see my client's case as one of merit and come to favorable terms with us is what we are after. The evidence is the brick with which the client's case is built and won. I supply the mortar. The way that I present the evidence, how it should be looked at for example, or what the weight of it is upon a finding that must be made, about right ways and wrong ways and responsibility and such, and arguments on those things that introduce understanding and the sense of the thing; that is mortar.
We assume that the goal is clear - not to pay more tax than we are supposed to or to be abused in the process of coming to terms with the government about that. So, what then is the fundamental undertaking in a tax controversy? Well, what, if anything has happened? How, why, where and when? The issue or issues to be resolved are what I have to identify. What relationships or factors will be helpful in analyzing the problem or issues? What rules are required? What is the data and is it reliable? What is the measure of the effort required to establish the client's case and to achieve a result which is acceptable to the client? Can this be achieved? What are the limitations of the client and the government in this regard? What tools must be applied to analyze and resolve the problem at hand?
Each case stands upon its own merit and its own dynamics. Many questions have to be asked and answered, evidence is reviewed and discussed, procedural rules and legal principles are advanced, and the government's disposition to accept or reject them is known, only then can one begin to attempt to engage in probabilities concerning the outcome of a case. Patience and persistence brings the case to a conclusion with which the client can have peace of mind.
Theodore L. Craft
