Another Antarctican lost an argument that income earned on “the Ice” is eligible for the Section 911 foreign earned income exclusion. By my count, that’s the 81st time the Tax Court has rejected this argument as made by attorney Larry D. Harvey. Two taxpayers who have made the argument without an attorney fared no worse, but no better.
One Antarctic employee has kindly provided me some background on these cases. He reports that a Colorado CPA first suggested using the Section 911 exclusion on Antarctic income to one or two taxpayers in the late 1990s. The idea was passed around the Antarctic taxpayer set by word of mouth and became, understandably, quite popular, until the IRS caught on. The CPA referred the taxpayers to Mr. Harvey, and the rest is history.
There is a MySpace page for the beleaguered Antarctic taxpayers. While Mr. Harvey’s losing streak may have reached comic proportions, the Antarcticans that have to come up with back taxes can be excused if they fail to get the joke.
Cite: Cephers, T.C. Memo. 2008-57
