United States v. Montgomery, et al., No. 12-20741 (5th Cir. 2014)
Annotate this CaseDefendants appealed their convictions for conspiracy to avoid federal income tax and of filing false tax returns. The district court erred in not clarifying that plaintiffs' good-faith belief need not be objectively reasonable. Nevertheless, the erroneous jury instruction in this case was harmless because the evidence showing that plaintiffs intentionally underreported their income was so overwhelming that the error could not have contributed to the jury's decision to convict. The court also concluded that the district court did not err in calculating the total tax loss resulting from the offenses and declining to accept plaintiffs' tax-loss estimate. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment of the district court.
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