By: Cary B. Bryson
Do you want your piece of the great outdoors? How does cattle farming sound to you? And, what if the investment could also guarantee you enough income to retire?
Does this sound too good to be true? Well, it is!!! Just ask the HOYT CATTLE PARTNERSHIP INVESTORS WHO RECEIVED GIANT TAX BILLS FROM THE IRS FOR INVESTMENTS THEY MADE 30 YEARS AGO!!!
Recently, several of these Hoyt Cattle investors have called and come to see us looking for help. They have been visited by IRS Revenue Officers who are looking for their money! They are also receiving levy and lien notices from the IRS! They face major IRS tax bills for the losses claimed on their returns which were declared fraudulent by a U.S. Tax Court.
Here's the story:
Walter J. Hoyt was a rancher well-known for raising high-quality shorthorn cattle. In the early 1980s, Hoyt began selling cattle to investors and set it up as a partnership arrangement. He also prepared these investors' tax returns. Here's the sketchy part. When preparing the returns, Hoyt gave each investor large sums expenses associated with raising the cattle. This created income losses on the tax returns, which in turn generated huge tax refunds for the investors.
Throughout the 1980s, Hoyt found more and more investors. As you can imagine – there's more to the story! Unbeknownst to these investors, Hoyt was largely inflating the number of cattle . . . and the expenses. Hoyt also continuously misled investors as to the legitimacy of the partnerships in the eyes of the IRS.
In the end, after many years and many IRS investigations, the Hoyt Cattle Partnerships owned only 7,903 cows. Investors were led to believe they owned over 38,000. Hoyt sold over $103 million in illegitimate deductions.
Hoyt was convicted of tax fraud, and died in prison in September 2007. Before he died, Hoyt signed a memorandum admitting that investors deducted expenses for too many cows. This left the investors holding the bag, and made them liable for millions of dollars in IRS taxes and penalties.
Most investors were honest, hardworking individuals looking for an opportunity to invest in what they thought was a legitimate and worthy investment. They believed this investment would help them save for retirement or a child's college tuition. Now, they are facing bank levies, wage garnishments, and pressures to file bankruptcy. The tax courts have continuously held that these partners were negligent by investing in this illegal tax shelter, which offers investors little relief from the additional tax, penalties, and interest recently assessed against them.
We want these investors to know that THERE ARE OTHER OPTIONS AVAILABLE TO DEAL WITH THESE HOYT CATTLE TAX BILLS. These include determining whether the assessments were timely (ASEDs), submitting an Offer in Compromise (OIC or Offer) to settle, agreeing to a workable Installment Agreement (IA or payment plan), or getting these IRS balances into a Currently Non-Collectable Status (CNC or hardship status).
Please share this link if you or anyone you know is a victim of the Hoyt Cattle Partnerships scam! Remember, our first visit is free and confidential. Our mission is to help people who are in tax trouble, and we are here to help.
