Home> Thug Tactics> The Silence Treatment> Letter to Larken Rose
The Silence Treatment:
Original Letter to Larken Rose
October 4, 2001
Larken Rose
Dear Mr. Rose:
We have reviewed certain materials with respect to your tax shelter promotion. We are considering possible action under Sections 6700, 6701 and 7408 of the Internal Revenue Code relating to penalties and an injunction action for promoting abusive tax shelters. In addition, we plan to consider issuing "pre-filing notification" letters to the investors who have invested in this promotion.
The purpose of this letter is to schedule a meeting to give you an opportunity to present any facts or legal arguments which you feel would conclude that the penalties and/or the injunction is not appropriate. Enclosed is Form 4564, Information Document Request, which contains a list of documents, books and records that you should have available and questions you should be prepared to reply to at that time.
We would like to schedule the meeting for October 18, 2001, at 9:00 a.m. The location of this meeting will be at the IRS office at 801 Old York Road, Jenkintown, PA 19046. Please contact us at
[redacted] to confirm your attendance at this meeting.If you want us to review any documents or records prior to the scheduled meeting please mail them to us as Room 3208, 600 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106. These items should arrive by October 15, 2001, to allow us sufficient time to review them. If do not
[sic] want us to review any documents or records prior to the scheduled meeting, you are required to provide all the documents, books and records requested on Form 4564 at the time of the meeting.We encourage you to read Publication 1, Your Rights as a Taxpayer, and Notice 609, Privacy Act Notice. For your convenience we have enclosed these with this letter.
Generally, no extension of time will be granted for this meeting; however, if you would like to reschedule, an earlier date will be considered. The information you provide at this meeting, as well as materials already available, will be used to determine what possible action(s) the Service may take. If you have any questions, please contact us at
[redacted]. You may also write to us at P.O. Box 12040, Philadelphia, PA 19105.Sincerely yours,
Chris Roginsky
Internal Revenue Agent
Employee ID: 23-03528
Enclosures (3)
With that letter was Form 4564, which identified the "Subject" as "IRC 6701/7408 Investigation," and that form listed 22 types of information requested, which can be summarized as follows:
1) Documents relating to "the establishment of any entities, trade names or businesses" by Larken Rose. (Apart from this web site, which does not really fit the description, none exist.)
2) The names of all personnel having "administrative duties" involving such entities. (There are none.)
3) A list of clients for such entities. None exist.
4) The name, address, and extensive additional information regarding each client in item #3. (None exist.)
5) Any "promotional material" related to:
"a. the definition of gross income
b. the definition of taxable income
c. IRS sections 861, 862 or 863
d. employer abatements of Federal income tax withholding
e. employer abatements of Social Security and Medicare taxes
f. due process
g. the taxing power of the Federal government"
While it is not "promotional material," the only possibly relevant information is already publicly available (for free) on this web site.
6) All documents "relating to Federal taxes or Federal tax administration." All such information is already publicly available (for free) on this web site.
7) Document "relating to any web site" owned or controlled by Larken Rose, including "the location of the computer containing the files comprising the web site," as well as extensive additional information. The request also included "a copy of all the files that currently comprise the web site, including those in a non-public, members only or a fee-for-access area." (There are no "fee-for-access" portions of this site.)
8) Documentation concerning any accounts held by this web site. There are none.
9) All documents related to "all bank, brokerage or other similar accounts" held individually or jointly by Larken Rose. (Note that this item is not limited to accounts having any relevance to the web site or the 861/"source" issue.)
10) All such accounts that Mr. Rose has "signature authority" over.
11) Information concerning the participation of this web site in the "PayPal" service, including detailed account information. (None exists.)
12) Information regarding the acceptance of "virtual checks" and electronic fund transferred by this web site. No such information exists.
13) "Copies of all legal, accounting or other similar opinions in your possession or control obtained by you or any business or entity you own and used to arrive at the your [sic] conclusions or opinions regarding Federal income taxes and Federal income tax administration"
14) Mr. Rose’s "complete education background," including copies of any diplomas, degree or certificates he has, and his resume or curriculum vitae, and any information about his attendance at any "seminars, workshops or other training classes related to Federal income tax or Federal income tax administration."
15) Extensive information regarding any "speeches, presentations or information concerning the Federal income tax or Federal income tax administration" given by Mr. Rose.
16) Information regarding any radio or television interviews given by Mr. Rose regarding the federal income tax.
17) "Identification all [sic] persons or entities" that Mr. Rose has "assisted in any tax matter."
18) Detailed information regarding any meetings that Mr. Rose has attended with Internal Revenue Service personnel.
19) "Please provide the name, identification number and telephone number of all IRS personnel to whom you have either spoken or written regarding any tax matter."
20) Copies of any "returns, letters, analyses, or any other documents" prepared by Mr. Rose of behalf of others, to be submitted to the IRS.
21) Copies of any such documents that Mr. Rose "edited, drafted, assisted or [was] consulted during the preparation" of.
22) Any forms giving Mr. Rose the power to act on someone else’s behalf. (The only one that exists is one giving Mr. Rose the power to represent his wife.)
Keep in mind that this gigantic fishing expedition is based on the obviously false accusation that there is an "abusive tax shelter" involved. This is clearly the IRS attempting to find out where and how the information is being spread, so they can go try to silence it, and so they can go harass and intimidate anyone who has been exposed to this information, including their own employees (see item 19 above).
Also keep in mind that this site has, for more than a full year, suggested that people ask the IRS or their "representatives" in Congress to answer the questions and explain the issue. Mr. Rose has also repeated told the IRS (including the IRS Chief Counsel) that any response they wish to provide would be prominently posted, for free, on this web site. In addition, more than a hundred people have asked the three questions of Operation Honest Inquiry, telling the recipients that if they would respond, their responses would be made public.
How has the IRS responded to all this? We have yet to see a single answer to even one of the questions of Operation Honest Inquiry. Instead, the IRS letters routinely state that they "do not respond" to such letters "on a point by point basis," and that they "do not intend to respond to further correspondence from [anyone] on the same or similar topics." And now, after acting like the keepers of some secret law, the IRS is attempting to shut up by force those asking inconvenient questions.
The false accusations and the intrusive and harassing demands for information would fit in quite well in the Peoples Republic of China, but they have no place here. (The next time you want to refer to this is a "free country," you might want to reconsider.)
<<Intro: Silence Treatment
Next: Rose's 1st Letter>>