Snyder Died During Audit of TV Funds, Attorney Says : Homeless: The IRS was treating the activist as it would any taxpayer, his lawyer says. He adds that income from the broadcast went to a shelter.

The Internal Revenue Service had been examining the records of Mitch Snyder for a year prior to his apparent suicide last week, an attorney for the homeless advocate said Saturday.

The attorney, Gerald A. Kafka, said the IRS “stepped in” about a year ago to audit royalties paid to Snyder from the 1986 television movie “Samaritan: The Mitch Snyder Story.” Snyder was a consultant on the film.

“The IRS was examining civilly Mitch’s tax liability for prior years. . . . It was the audit of any taxpayer and the IRS wasn’t handling it any differently,” Kafka said.

Ellen Murphy, director of public affairs for the IRS, said Saturday the agency was prohibited from commenting.

The body of Snyder, 46, was found hanging by an electrical cord Thursday in his bedroom at the Community for Creative Non-Violence, the Washington homeless shelter he ran.

Authorities said Snyder apparently had killed himself one or two days earlier. Kafka said he had scheduled a meeting with Snyder for last Tuesday evening to “wrap up” the IRS situation, but “he didn’t make the meeting.”

Police found a note near Snyder’s body in which he talked about problems with his relationship with Carol Fennelly, his longtime companion and co-worker at the shelter. The two had planned to marry in September.

Fennelly was scheduled for admission to Capitol Hill Hospital after she collapsed outside the shelter during a meeting of the homeless advocacy group on Saturday. Hospital spokeswoman Lisa Poulter said doctors advised that Fennelly be admitted for observation but she decided to leave.

Police sources last week who described the note did not say if it mentioned any difficulties with the IRS.

Snyder had refused, for philosophical reasons, to incorporate his shelter as a tax-exempt group. Kafka would not say whether Snyder had refused to pay taxes.

“It’s safe to say Mitch was very consistent in his treatment of taxes,” Kafka said.

“Mitch did not gain any economic advantage from the movie,” the attorney said. “The money went straight to CCNV.”

Members of the District of Columbia City Council had criticized Snyder for failing to apply officially for nonprofit status.