Decision will be entered under
COHEN,
2004 | $12,356 | $2,751.97 | 1$2,446.20 | $350.08 |
2006 | 12,634 | 1,766.25 | 346.29 |
The issues for decision are whether petitioner had unreported income during the years in issue, whether she had deductions beyond those conceded by respondent, and whether she is liable for the additions to tax. All section references are to the Internal Revenue Code in effect for the years in issue, and all Rule references are to the Tax Court Rules of Practice and Procedure.
Some of the facts have been stipulated, and the stipulated facts are incorporated in our findings by this reference. Petitioner resided in Georgia at the time that she filed her petition. Petitioner was 2010 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 228">*229 a graphic designer and computer technician during the years in issue.
During 2004, petitioner received wages of $12,196 from U.S. Personnel. Petitioner received nonemployee compensation from Columbia Theological Seminary, Inc., of $2,837 in 2004; from Agnes Scott College of $18,510 in 2004 and $2,900 in 2006; and from the Westminster Schools of $17,554 in 2004 and $3,850 in 2006. During 2006, petitioner received wages of $10,858 from Pat Cornelius & Associates, Inc., and $50,696 from DigiPrint Ink, Ltd.
Petitioner received interest income totaling $1,117 in 2006.
Petitioner failed to file Federal income tax returns for 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006. Respondent prepared substitutes for returns for petitioner for 2004 and 2006, using a filing status of single. Notices of deficiency were sent to petitioner on November 10, 2008, for 2004 and 2006. The notices were based on third-party reporting of petitioner's income as set forth above.
The petition in this case had attached a form containing a hodgepodge of frivolous, irrelevant, and spurious arguments common to petitions following a program of tax defiance. See
Before, during, and after trial, petitioner presented an "affidavit of expenses and deductions" that she insisted should be accepted as proof of her business expenses for the years in issue. 2010 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 228">*231 When the case was called for trial, petitioner belatedly presented some receipts substantiating expenses, and respondent conceded some deductions. Petitioner stipulated the items of income set forth above and the third-party records that were the subject of information returns on which the substitutes for returns and notices of deficiency were based.
The Court ordered seriatim briefs, with respondent filing the opening brief, so that the record could be clarified as to what deductions were agreed and why others were denied. In her brief, petitioner admitted that she received wages and other income but that she maintained no records of amounts paid to her. She attempted to avoid the stipulation and renewed hearsay objections to the evidence of her income received with the stipulation. She has shown neither error in the stipulation nor any reason to relieve her from it. See
Many of the expenses petitioner claimed were disallowed for lack of substantiation of amount, time, place, and business purpose under
Respondent conceded that petitioner was entitled to deduct a portion of the expenses of an office in her home during 2004, when most of petitioner's income was nonemployee compensation. Petitioner attempts to recharacterize her wage income in both years as nonemployee compensation in order 2010 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 228">*233 to claim expenses, including her office in the home, as business expenses deductible in full rather than employee expenses limited by
Petitioner claims deductions for computers and other equipment purchased in 2004. If petitioner had filed a tax return for 2004, she might have elected under
As to almost all of the expenses that she claimed, petitioner lacked corroborative receipts, canceled checks or other records of expenditures. Some of the documents she presented were illegible, patently unreliable, or contradicted her claims. (The receipts that she produced included Diet Coke purchased at WalMart because she was thirsty). Petitioner asserts that she did the best that she could considering the passage of time and seeks to rely on
Certainly the necessity of reconstructing in 2010 expenses allegedly incurred in 2004 and 2006 and the unreliability of 2010 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 228">*235 recollection and estimates are problems of petitioner's own making. She failed to file tax returns for at least 4 years, when contemporaneous schedules of deductions would have, or should have, been based on contemporaneous records. She failed to keep records of her income and expenses. She refused to cooperate when contacted by respondent, and she complied only belatedly and incompletely with the Court's orders and Rules requiring that records be turned over and that facts and documents be stipulated. She obstructed the determination of her tax liabilities by pursuing frivolous positions promoted by unreliable sources and did not seek competent tax advice. We are not persuaded that she is entitled to any deductions not conceded by respondent.
Respondent has satisfied the burden of going forward under
To reflect respondent's concessions,
1. 1↩The addition to tax will continue to accrue from the due date of the return at a rate of 0.5 percent for each month, or fraction thereof, of nonpayment, not exceeding 25 percent.