Wiseman: I believed, in good faith, tax debt was satisfied
In response to a federal tax lien taken out against former Superior Court Judge David Wiseman, the judge stated that pursuant to an installment agreement he entered into with the CNMI Division of Revenue and Tax back in 2018, he believed in good faith that he had satisfied his tax debt.
Last week, the division filed a tax lien against Wiseman claiming unpaid taxes in the amount of $24,551.45 due from 2015 to 2016.
However, Wiseman claims that to the best of his knowledge, he had satisfied his tax debt, which he incurred after selling assets before he left the island, back in 2018.
“On this first day of December, I woke up to a message from a friend about an article on social media with my judge photo and a story about me not having paid a tax allegedly due from 2015-2016 in the sum of $24,551.45. Amazing how an accomplished good reputation of four decades in the CNMI, that I am proud of, can be stained by a news article that did not ask or contact the other party for comments prior to publishing the story. In any event, the present tax lien was filed by Richard Santos, the manager of the Collection Branch of the CNMI Rev and Tax Division with whom I had communicated on several occasions, when I was making payments through him, pursuant to an installment agreement I had with Rev and Tax,” he said.
Wiseman claims that he was never notified about the alleged unpaid tax debt or the notice of tax lien.
“Notwithstanding such communication years ago, I was never contacted nor notified about the alleged tax due, nor did I receive any notice of the filing of said tax lien,” he said.
Wiseman explained that he had owed about $150,000 in taxes after selling assets during the time he was preparing to move off island.
However, he did enter into an installment agreement with Tax and Revenue to settle his tax debt.
The judge noted that he even wrote to Tax and Revenue’s collections branch manager Richard Santos on Aug. 25, 2018 referencing his last payment pursuant to the installment agreement but never heard back so he assumed he had satisfied his tax debt.
“A letter I sent to Mr. Santos, dated Aug. 25, 2018, captioned Installment Agreement Payment In Full referenced my last payment of $3,647.07 on July 11, 2018. The letter also stated that, in my opinion, this sum was the balance remaining on the installment agreement for payment of taxes due 2015-2016, and that it has been paid in full. Unfortunately, I did not receive any response nor dispute with my statement in said letter. The letter also concluded by thanking several employees at Tax and Revenue , along with Mr. Santos, for their courteous and helpful assistance and cooperation in handling, what was for us, a very substantial tax payment. The installment agreement was for a very large tax sum of $152,440.00. This substantial tax was due because of preparing to move off island and selling off some CNMI assets for which we had to pay taxes on. Upon signing the installment agreement, I paid down the sum of $52,440 and then made several partial payments thereafter, until finally paying off what I assumed, in good faith, was the balance,” he said.
In closing, Wiseman said the detrimental effect of the tax lien could have been avoided had he been contacted about it.
“So here I am, years later, viewing a very disturbing and unwarranted stain on my reputation from a published story on social media, on a matter I assumed was completed and satisfied years ago. The detrimental effect of the filing and subsequent news story, could all have been avoided with a simple phone call, message, or other communication to me, which would have brought about a discussion with Tax and Revenue with respect to this matter,” he said.
Former Superior Court judge David Wiseman
