Joe Banister

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Joseph Ronald Banister is a former Special Agent of the Criminal Investigation Division of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Banister resigned from the IRS and later appeared on Sixty Minutes II challenging the conduct of the IRS concerning legal issues with taxation. Banister's books and other material challenge the legality of some aspects of the income tax.

In 2004 Banister was charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States^[1] and willfully aiding, assisting counseling and procuring the filing of a false amended income tax return^[2] in connection with his alleged assistance of a client, Walter A. Thompson. The charges against Banister were severed, after Thompson chose to represent himself pro se (a legal term meaning without assistance of a lawyer) and was detained pending trial.

On April 13, 2005, Thompson was sentenced to serve 72 months in prison and was fined $7,500 following his conviction in January of that year for two counts of filing false claims for refunds, filing a false amended individual income tax return, ten counts of willfully failing to deduct, withhold, collect and pay over income and social security taxes from his employees.[1] Thompson was acquitted of the charge he conspired with Banister to defraud the government.

Thompson owned and operated Cencal, an aviation and flight bag manufacturing business. Cencal employed a number of hourly wage workers who were predominantly seamstresses, production workers and office workers. In July 2000, Thompson removed all of the employees from the taxpayer rolls by no longer withholding employment taxes from wages and salaries, by not filing Forms 941, and by not providing employees or the IRS with annual wage or other income statements, Forms W-2 or 1099.

On June 23, 2005, Banister was acquitted of all the charges against him. Banister's defense argued that he was targeted for his political beliefs.[2]

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• Internal Revenue Code
• e-CFR - Government Printing Office, income tax regulations search engine
• IRS Examples of Employment Tax Enforcement
• Quatlosers Hall of Shame—Joe Banister

Sites presenting tax protester arguments

• WhatisTaxed.com - Data mining the tax code and regulations for eliminated income, excluded income, deductions, etc.