A homeschool leader became concerned about a paid teacher in her homeschool group. It seems this woman has not reported her income from teaching at the homeschool program for 7 years!
The teacher has refused to listen when others try to explain her tax obligation.
The leader told me that the teacher “stops me in mid sentence because she wants to claim ignorance if she were to get audited.”
She believes she could claim, “I didn’t know.”
So is ignorance of the tax laws a good defense?
Not typically!
Typically, ignorance of the law is not a defense in our criminal justice system. Under a long-standing legal fiction, defendants are, instead, presumed to know the law. Source: https://www.freemanlaw-pllc.com/cheek-defense-federal-tax-crimes/
But in this case, the teacher is NOT ignorant of her obligation to report her income.
She is willfully blind.
“Most courts agree that if the taxpayer willfully remains “blind” to his or her obligations under the tax laws, no valid defense can exist.” Source: https://thetaxlawyer.com/…/tax-law-mistake-ignorance…
In other words, since the paid teacher is being willfully blind, she has no defense as to why she is evading income tax.
And as a taxpayer I don’t like it when other people evade taxes!
Your responsibility as a homeschool leader is to file the required reports, either a 1099-MISC (for Independent Contractors) or W-2 (for employees) with the IRS by January 31 each year.
My book Paying Workers in a Homeschool Organization explains the required reports your homeschool group should be giving to its workers (and a whole lot more!)
Carol Topp, CPA
HomeschoolCPA.com
