Date
Name and title
Employer
Address
City, State, Zip Code
Re: Request for full payment of earnings and request employer cease and desist withholding of earnings under the guise, pretext, sham and subterfuge of withholding taxes from employee who is not subject to income and other revenue tax, and payment of monies unlawfully withheld.
THERE IS NO ABSOLUTE REQUIREMENT TO SUPPLY A SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER OR �TAXPAYER� FORM W-4
Dear Employer,
Please take notice that I, [Your Name], hereby request full payment of my earnings and request that you cease and desist withholding any of my earnings under the guise, pretext, sham, and subterfuge of withholding taxes.
At the time I applied for employment with [Employer name], I was falsely led to believe that I was required by law to complete and sign a Form W-4 and also required to supply a social security number. I have since learned certain facts regarding the signing of forms and supplying of numbers supposedly required by revenue laws.
I submit that there is no law that requires an individual to complete and sign a Form W-4 in order to obtain or to keep a job. I also submit that there is no law that requires an individual to supply a social security number in order to obtain or keep a job.
I submit that it is only the requirement under internal revenue statutes and regulations that an employer request from an individual a completed and signed Form W-4 and request from an individual an identifying number such as a social security number. As you will see, the employer needs only to sign an affidavit stating that the request for a social security number has been made.
I submit that there is no law that prohibits an employer from hiring an individual, and no law that requires an individual be terminated, in the event the individual does not sign the tax forms or submit a social security number.
I submit that any penalties relating to an individual�s alleged �failure� to sign required forms, submit required information, and/or supply required numbers is a matter between the Internal Revenue Service and the individual. The employer has no authority to penalize an individual in any manner or to deprive an individual of any rights or privileges merely because the individual has not supplied such number or submitted such forms.
I submit that the Internal Revenue Code and the regulations pertaining to the Code do not contain an absolute requirement that an employer provide an employee�s social security number or other identifying number to the Internal Revenue Service.
I base the above statements on the following information.
NO SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER REQUIRED
The Internal Revenue Code section 6109(a)(3) states:
Any person required under the authority of this title to make a return, statement, or other document with respect to another person shall request from such other person, and shall include in any return, statement, or other document, such identifying number as may be be prescribed for securing proper identification of such person.
26 U.S.C. 6109(a) (3) (Emphasis added)
The regulation interpreting section 6109 provides:
If he or she does not know the taxpayer identifying number of the other person, he or she shall request such number from that person. A request should state that the identifying number is required to be furnished under authority of law. When the person filing the return, statement, or other document does not know the number of the person, and has complied with the request provision of this paragraph, he shall sign an affidavit on the transmittal document forwarding such returns, statements, or other documents to the Internal Revenue Service so stating.
26 CFR 301.6109-1(c) (In part, emphasis added)
If a document must be filed and the employer has not been able to obtain, but has made the request, then the employer needs only to include an affidavit stating that the request was made.
The Internal Revenue Code section 6723 states:
In the case of a failure by any person to comply with a specific information reporting requirement on or before the time prescribed therefore, such person shall pay a penalty of $50 for each failure,� 26 U.S.C. 6723 (in part)
However, Internal Revenue Code section 6724(a) provides for a waiver of any penalties assessed under the Code upon a showing of reasonable cause. Section 6724(a) provides:
No penalty shall be imposed under this part with respect to any failure if it is shown that such failure is due to reasonable cause and not willful neglect. 26 U.S.C. 6724(a) (Emphasis added)
Since the Internal Revenue Code provides for a waiver of any penalties for �any failure� to obtain a social security number, it is not mandatory that you obtain such number or supply such number to the Internal Revenue Service. The fact that an individual will not sign a form or supply a number after you have made the request eliminates willful neglect on the employer�s part.
Even under the Immigration Reform and Control Act, codified at 8 U.S.C. 1324a(b), documents other than a social security number can be used for identification purposes; a birth certificate being one of them. (Emphasis added)
NO FORM W-4 IS REQUIRED
Just like the request for a social security number (or �taxpayer identifying number�), the Internal Revenue Code merely requires that the employer request a Form W-4(or withholding exemption certificate) from each employee. The Code instructs that in the event the employee does not furbish such certificate, such person shall be considered as a single person. Note that the Internal Revenue Code only relates to those persons who are subject to and liable for a revenue tax. The term �taxpayer is defined in the code as any person subject to the applicable revenue law, and that the courts have ruled that the revenue laws relate to �taxpayers� as defined, and not to nontaxpayers. See Economy Plumbing and Heating v. United States, 470 F.2d 585, at 589 and Note 3 at 590. I have also pointed out that the term �subject to� means �liable for�. See Black�s Law Dictionary. In Houston Street Corp. v. C.I.R., 84 F.2d 821, at 822 (5th Cir., 1936), the Court stated, �We see no distinction between the phrases �liable for such tax and subject to a tax�.�
It has also been pointed out that the �exempt� status, or any exemption allowed by Congress, applies to persons who are actually subject to (liable for) the tax and that Congress essentially chose to give these �taxpayers� a break.
Just like the social security number, you will also see there is no absolute requirement for withholding allowance certificates (such as Form W-4) required to be signed by an individual in order for him or her to obtain a job. You will see that such forms apply only to individuals who are claiming an authorized allowance or exemption as granted by the statutes.
The Internal Revenue Code provides:
On or before the date of commencement of employment with an employer, the employee shall furbish the employer with a signed withholding exemption certificate relating to the number of exemptions which he claims, which in no event exceed the number to which he is entitled. 26 U.S.C. 3402(f)(2)(A) (Emphasis added)
Here, the language is clear. Such a form is required only in the event of some sort of exemption is claimed. Please be advised that I make no claim at all. I do not claim �exempt�, I do not claim �zero� and I do not claim any other number of exemptions. I submit you will find no law requiring an individual to complete such certificate if such individual makes no claim. It goes without saying that an individual can�t be forced to claim a �benefit� or be forced to sign a government form which is not absolutely required by law in order to contract for a job.
Furthermore, the regulation issue pursuant to 26 U.S.C. 3402(f)(2)(A) states that an employer is only required to request a �withholding exemption certificate� and tells you precisely what to do in the event you are not furbished such certificate:
(a) On commencement of employment
The employer is required to request a withholding exemption certificate from each employee, but if the employee fails to furnish such certificate, such employee shall be considered a single person claiming no withholding exemptions.
26 CFR 31.3402(f) (2)-1(a) (In part, emphasis added)
Summarizing all the above, it is clear that the statutes and regulations issue pursuant to the statutes do not provide you with any protection for refusing to hire an individual or for dismissing an individual simply because the individual has not supplied a social security number or signed tax forms.
WITHHOLDING
It goes without saying that one cannot have taxes withheld unless he or she is subject to or liable for a tax.
I deny being subject to or liable for any so-called �income� tax, or any so-called �Social Security� tax or any other revenue tax. I subject you will find no place in the Internal Revenue Code that makes me subject to or liable for any tax. I recommend that you not merely assume that I am subject to or liable for a tax and withhold from my contracted earnings on the basis of that assumption. Such actions will not pass the muster of due process clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution.
The Internal Revenue Code is clear in showing which persons are liable for a tax. For example, 26 U.S.C. 5703(a) states:
The manufacturer or importer of tobacco products shall be liable for the taxes imposed thereon by section 5701.
26 U.S.C. 5703(a)(1)
Again, I submit that you will find no place in the Internal Revenue Code that makes me subject to or liable for any tax.
Furthermore, I deny being a �taxpayer� as that term is defined in the Internal Revenue Code. I also deny that I have any �taxable income� or �taxable year� as these terms are defined in the Internal Revenue Code.
If you act on the mere assumption that I am subject to or liable for any revenue tax, you will then carry the burden of proof as to the lawfulness of your actions.
You should note that the courts have clearly stated the revenue laws relate only to those who are subject to or liable for a tax.
The revenue laws are a code or system in regulation of tax assessment and collection. They related to taxpayers and not to nontaxpayers. The latter are without their scope. No procedure is prescribed for nontaxpayers and no attempt to annul any of their rights and remedies in due course of law. With them Congress does not assume to deal and they are neither the subject nor the object of their revenue laws.
Note 3. The term �taxpayer�, in this opinion is used in the strict and narrow sense contemplated by the Internal Revenue Code and means any person who pays, overpays, or is subject to pay his own personal income tax. (See Section 7701(a) (14) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954.) A �nontaxpayer� is a person who does not possess the foregoing requisites of a taxpayer. Economy Plumbing and Heating Co. v U.S. 470 F.2d 585, 589-590 (U.S. Court of Claims, 1972). (Emphasis added)
In other words, all of the statutes and regulations under the internal revenue laws apply only to those who are subject to or liable for a revenue tax.
I submit that you do not have the authority to determine who is and who is not subject to or liable for a tax. Before you proceed on the mere assumption that I am someone who is subject to or liable for a particular tax, I recommend you try to determine whether the subject of the tax is in the category of people, property, or activities and then try to find a place in the Internal Revenue Code that imposes a tax on that particular subject.
I submit that there is no tax within the Internal Revenue Code imposed on people or property.
A federal court stated:
Indeed, the requirement for apportionment is pretty strictly limited to taxes on real and personal property and capitation taxes. Penn Mutual Indemnity Co. v C.I.R. 277 F.2d 16 (3rd Cir. 1960).
I submit that there is no tax imposed by the internal revenue laws that has been apportioned among the States as the Constitution of the United States requires of direct taxes. Obviously since there are no federal taxes apportioned among the states, including social security taxes, there is no tax imposed on either people or property.
The U.S. Supreme Court stated:
In the matter of taxation, the Constitution recognized the two great classes of direct and indirect taxes, and lays down the two rules by which their imposition must be governed, namely the rule of apportionment as to direct taxes and the rule of uniformity as to duties, imposts, and excises. Pollock v Farmer�s Loan and Trust, 157 U.S. 429 at 557 (1895) and Brushaber v Union Pacific R.R. Co., 240 U.S. 1, at 13 (1916).
and,
[T]he conclusion reached in the Pollock case did not in any degree involved holding that income taxes generically and necessarily came within the class of direct taxes on property, but on the contrary, recognized the fact that taxation on income was in its nature an excise entitled to be enforced as such,...
Brushaber, supra at pages 16-17. (Emphasis added.)
In the event the claim arises that the Sixteenth Amendment authorized a direct tax without apportionment, let me advise you that the Supreme Court said:
By the previous ruling, it was settled that the provisions of the Sixteenth Amendment conferred no new power of taxation, but simply prohibited the previous complete and plenary power of income taxation possessed by Congress from the beginning from being taken out of the category of indirect taxation to which it inherently belonged...
Stanton v Baltic Mining Co., 240 U.S. 103 at 112 (Emphasis added)
and,
the Sixteenth Amendment does not extend the taxing power to new or unexpected subjects
and,
A tax laid upon the happening of an event, as distinguished from its tangible fruits, is an indirect tax. Tyler v. U.S., 281 U.S. 497, at 502(1930) (Emphasis added)
The House Congressional Record reiterates these basic facts:
The income tax is, therefore not a tax on income as such. It is an excise tax with respect to certain activities and privileges, which measured by reference to the income which they produce. The income is not the subject of the tax; it is the basis for determining the amount of tax.
House Congressional Record 3-27-43, page 2590 (Emphasis added)
The U.S. Supreme Court explains an excise tax:
Excises are �taxes laid upon the manufacture, sale, or consumption of commodities within a country, upon licenses to pursue certain occupations and upon corporate privileges.
(Cooley, Const. Lim., 7th ed., 680)
Flint v. Stone Tracy Co., at 220 U.S. 107, at 151(1911)
Unless you can find a place in the Internal Revenue Code that imposes a tax upon any activity or event which I am involved in, then you have no basis to assume or presume that I am subject to or liable for a tax. While withholding is authorized under certain conditions, section 3402(a) (1) (B) of the Internal Revenue Code states withholding must:
�reflect the provisions of chapter 1�
3402(a) (1) (B)
Chapter 1 of the Code involves the so-called �income� tax, which is an indirect tax in the nature of an excise, which is a tax imposed upon some taxable activity or event. I submit that you will not find a place in the Internal Revenue Code that imposes a tax on any activity or event that I am involved in, and no place in the Code that makes me subject to or liable for any revenue tax.
Also, I submit that before you proceed to act based upon someone else�s statement claiming I am subject to or liable for an internal revenue tax, that you make certain that the person has the authority to make the determination. I submit that there is no statute authorizing anyone to determine whether or not I am subject to any internal revenue tax. Personnel within taxing agencies may have authority to determine the liability (amount of tax owed) of a �taxpayer� as that term is defined in the Internal Revenue Code, but I submit that no person has been granted to determine whether or not I am subject to or liable for any internal revenue tax.
I submit that you will not be able to find any person who will sign a statement under penalty of perjury claiming that I am subject to or liable for any particular revenue tax.
The Supreme Court has ruled:
Our system of taxation is based upon voluntary assessment and payment, not upon distraint. Flora v. U.S., 362 U.S. 145, 176, (1960)
If you think there is a document granting any person the authority to determine whether I am subject to or liable for any internal revenue tax, I recommend you obtain a hard copy of that document before you proceed to withhold money from my earnings under the guise or pretext of supposedly withholding earnings.
I submit that the signing of W-4 forms and the supplying of social security numbers provide merely prima facie evidence, whether factually true or not, that the individual is a �taxpayer� as that term is defined by code.
I submit that such numbers and forms were obtained from me under conditions of mistake of fact, mistake of law, misinterpretation, fraud, constructive, fraud, duress, or coercion. Therefore, I hereby revoke my signature on any and all such forms in your possession and I request the removal of any social security number or �taxpayer� identification number from any and all records in your possession.
Since you don�t have the authority to determine whether or not I am subject to or liable for any internal revenue tax, I request that you do not send any Form 1099, Form W-4, Form W-2 or other forms concerning me to the IRS or any government agency. Any release of private information concerning me will be in violation of my rights under the privacy of law.
If any such agency request information concerning me, I recommend you demand documented proof (if any exists) that I am a person subject to or liable for a revenue tax and provide me with copies of such documents.
If you can�t provide me with copies of an official determination that I am a �taxpayer� as defined, signed by the proper authority and with documented proof of that authority, the detailed basis for that determination clearly identifying the precise subject of the tax in question and clearly stating the subject of the tax in the category of people, property, or activities, and clearly stating the precise subject of the revenue laws imposing that particular subject and the precise section of the revenue laws that makes me subject to or liable for that tax, I will presume that my position is correct and that any withholding of my lawful earnings will be an unlawful conversion of my property.
If you act without the proper authority, I seriously doubt the IRS will come to your aid.
Please advise me in writing within 10 days of receipt of this letter of the action you intend to take.
_______________________
[Your Name]
VERIFICATION
I declare under penalty of perjury that I have read the foregoing letter and I know its contents, and to the best of my knowledge the statements therein are true and correct, except as to those matters upon which I rely on information and/or belief, and as to those matters I do believe them to be true and correct.
Dated ___________________
________________________
[Your Name]
NOTARY PUBLIC�S JURAT