The IRS on Thursday announced (IR-2005-64) that courts are imposing stiff fines on taxpayers who make frivolous claims in trying to avoid their tax obligations:  the Tax Court has imposed over 100k of penalties since 2004 (and over 375k since 2001), and the Second, Ninth, and Tenth Circuits have upheld six earlier Tax Court decisions assessing over 15k in penalties:

Section 6673 Penalties Imposed by Tax Court in Published Collection Due Process Cases Since Jan. 1 2004

Case	State	Citation	Date	Penalty
Poe v. Commissioner	OH	TCM 2005-107	05/16/05	$2,000
Krueger v. Commissioner	GA	TCM 2005-105	05/11/05	$1,500
Howard v. Commissioner	AZ	TCM 2005-100	05/09/05	$10,000
Williams v. Commissioner	NE	TCM 2005-94	04/25/05	$5,000*
Lehmann v. Commissioner	AZ	TCM 2005-90	04/25/05	$2,500
Burke v. Commissioner	AZ	124 TC No 11	04/12/05	$2,500
Kilgore v. Commissioner	MA	TCM 2005-24	02/15/05	$10,000
Kolker v. Commissioner	CA	TCM 2004-288	12/29/04	$25,000
Gavigan v. Commissioner	CT	TCM 2004-155	11/10/04	$2,000
Yazzie v. Commissioner	AZ	TCM 2002-233	10/13/04	$2,000
Hiland v. Commissioner	AZ	TCM 2004-255	10/06/04	$1,000
Johnston v. Commissioner	AZ	TCM 2004-224	10/05/04	$3,000
Hamzik v. Commissioner	NV	TCM 2004-223	10/05/04	$15,000
Gilligan v. Commissioner	CA	TCM 2004-194	08/30/04	$5,000
Gatlos v. Commissioner	PA	TCM 2004-102	08/26/04	$2,000
Henderson v. Commissioner	AR	TCM 2004-157	07/01/04	$15,000
Jensen v. Commissioner	AK	TCM 2004-120	05/17/04	$10,000
Frey v. Commissioner	VA	TCM 2004-87	03/30/04	$4,000
*sua sponte

2004/2005 Appeals Court Actions Affirming Tax Court Sanctions

• Adams v. Commissioner — 95 A.F.T.R2d 2005-1862 (9^th Cir. April 12, 2005), $1,000 sanction by Tax Court affirmed plus Court of Appeals imposed additional $2,000 sanction.
• Boyd v. United States — 2005 US App. Lexis 1658 (10^th Cir.), $2,500 sanction by Tax Court affirmed.
• Cardona v. Commissioner — 2004 US App. Lexis 25259 (2d Cir.), $1,000 sanction by Tax Court affirmed.
• Hobbs v. Commissioner — 2004 US App. Lexis 19504 (9^th Cir.), $2,500 sanction by Tax Court affirmed.
• Holguin v. Commissioner — 2004 US App. Lexis 17848 (9^th Cir.), $1,600 sanction by Tax Court affirmed.
• Le Doux v. Commissioner — 2004 US App. Lexis 13262 (10^th Cir.), $5,000 sanction by Tax Court affirmed.