Every ethics course I have attended as an accountant always includes an informal comment along the lines of, “you will end up in a situation where you need to make a choice to do the right thing.” Not everybody chooses to actually do the right thing.
Well, I kind of get that.
But here we have a situation where she was (apparently) told: “You have to falsify my taxes, and if you refuse, I will drag you into court, and I will make a judge punish you for refusing to falsify my taxes.”
And I’m thinking, “The judge may go another way.”
I wonder what percentage of the top 1% of tax payers can or even try to prepare their own tax returns. I wouldn’t be surprised if Manafort is acquitted based on the complexity of the tax code. I think the defense will create reasonable doubt in at least one juror.
Every ethics course I have attended as an accountant always includes an informal comment along the lines of, “you will end up in a situation where you need to make a choice to do the right thing.” Not everybody chooses to actually do the right thing.
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If I were advising the defense on this I might suggest that the accountant had gone rogue and done this to “help” the client.
The taxpayer signs the return under penalty of perjury; the preparer signs based on what he/she knows/knew (or should have known).
Anyway, if the accountant is saying, in effect, “I am a liar, and I lied to the Federal Gov’t. But now that I have immunity from my lies, you can trust me that I am telling the truth.” Well, doesn’t that seem like a very easy thing for the defense to attack?
Exactly. Exposing your client to the potential for fraud charges isn’t condoned by any ethics class I ever attended.
Every ethics course I have attended as an accountant always includes an informal comment along the lines of,“you will end up in a situation where you need to make a choice to do the right thing.” Not everybody chooses to actually do the right thing.Sorry I missed the lesson in ethics in your phony course(s) on "ethics"
That sounds like Loretta Lynch taught your ethics course(s)at Obama's DOJ.