Decision was entered for respondent in part.
MEMORANDUM FINDINGS OF FACT AND OPINION
GOEKE, Judge: Respondent determined deficiencies of $ 2,497, $ 3,724, $ 2,875, and $ 3,343, in petitioners' 1996, 1997, 1998, and 1999 Federal income taxes, respectively. Respondent also determined penalties under
First, were amounts Mr. Namyst (petitioner) received from Intelligent Motion Controls, Inc. (IMC) reimbursements under an accountable plan qualifying under
Second, were amounts petitioners received for the sale of petitioner's tools includable in their gross income? We hold that they were.
Third, does the 6-year period of limitations under
Fourth, are petitioners liable for the accuracy-related penalty under
FINDINGS OF FACT
Some of the facts are stipulated. The stipulation of facts and the attached exhibits are incorporated herein by this reference. At the time the petition was filed, petitioners resided in Eagan, Minnesota.
Petitioners, husband and wife, filed joint Federal income tax returns for 1996, 1997, 1998, and 1999. Petitioner was employed by IMC, beginning in 1994 and during the years in issue. IMC made motor controls for blood pumps, and, later, developed digital inspection hardware and software for the jewelry industry. IMC's products included a patented device to analyze and appraise diamo nds. Petitioner was employed to design and manufacture IMC's products.
For each of 1994, 1995, and 1996, petitioner received Forms W-2, Wage and Tax Statement, from IMC, reporting2004 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 276">*278 his wages. Petitioner's Form W-2 for 1995 reported $ 42,000 in gross wages. Petitioner's Form W-2 for 1996 reported $ 7,000 in gross wages. The amount reported on petitioner's 1996 Form W-2 represented wages paid to him between January and March 1996.
John Kerkinni was the sole shareholder, CEO, and president of IMC. He never took a salary from IMC. Mr. Kerkinni met petitioner in 1980 when they worked together for another corporation. In 1994, Mr. Kerkinni called petitioner and asked him to come work for IMC to develop the equipment to analyze diamonds. Petitioner did not have an ownership interest in IMC. In designing and manufacturing IMC's products, petitioner and other IMC employees used tools and equipment that petitioner had personally owned for many years (petitioner's old tools).
In March 1996, Mr. Kerkinni approached petitioner and informed him that IMC could no longer afford to pay him a salary. Petitioner claims that at that time, he agreed to continue working for IMC without a salary. Petitioner and Mr. Kerkinni agreed that IMC would reimburse petitioner for any expenses he paid in performing his duties as an employee. The reimbursement payments were to be made whenever2004 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 276">*279 and in whatever amounts IMC could afford to make them. Mr. Kerkinni also agreed that IMC would purchase any of petitioner's old tools that were being used by employees of IMC. At Mr. Kerkinni's request, petitioner kept an inventory list of the tools and equipment owned by him and used by IMC employees and added to the list annually.
During 1996, 1997, 1998, and 1999, petitioner paid expenses related to his work at IMC. Petitioner's expenses included travel and purchases of new equipment. IMC issued checks to petitioner between March and December 1996, and in 1997, 1998, and 1999. The amounts of these checks were not reported to petitioner on a Form W-2, and petitioners did not report the amounts of the checks on their 1996, 1997, 1998, or 1999 Federal income tax returns. The checks from IMC were issued almost every month, although on different days each month. The amounts of the checks varied, from $ 500 (January 2, 1997) to $ 4,000 (September 20, 1996), and were generally in round numbers. Petitioner did not receive a statement allocating the amounts of the checks between expense reimbursements and payments for IMC's purchase of petitioner's old tools.
Respondent determined deficiencies2004 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 276">*280 for each of petitioners' taxable years 1996, 1997, 1998, and 1999. In a notice of deficiency dated August 28, 2003, respondent adjusted petitioners' income for each year to include the amounts of the checks from IMC. As a result of respondent's adjustments to petitioners' gross income, petitioners were no longer entitled to the earned income credits claimed on their returns for 1996, 1997, 1998, and 1999. The parties stipulated that petitioners are entitled to the child tax credit for 1998 and 1999. Respondent also conceded that petitioners were entitled to miscellaneous itemized deductions, limited under
OPINION
Petitioners argue that the checks issued to petitioner by IMC between March 1996 and December 1999 were not wages, but were in part reimbursements for the expenses petitioner paid in 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, and 1999, and in part proceeds from the sale of petitioner's tools to IMC. With respect to the expenses petitioner paid, petitioners claim that the reimbursement arrangement between petitioner and Mr. Kerkinni qualifies as an "accountable plan" under
Respondent argues that it is unreasonable to believe that petitioner agreed to work for IMC without a salary or an ownership interest in the corporation. Although the arrangement2004 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 276">*282 was unusual, we reject respondent's contention. Petitioner is dedicated to his work and loyal to his friend, Mr. Kerkinni.
The parties do not address the application of
We shall first address petitioners' contention that they were not required to report as gross income the amounts IMC reimbursed petitioner for his expenses, which included travel and the purchases of new equipment on behalf of IMC. We shall then address petitioner's contention that the remainder of the payments made by IMC were returns of petitione r's capital with respect to the sale of his old tools to IMC.
A. Business Connection2004 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 276">*284 Requirement
The business connection requirement is satisfied if an arrangement provides advances, allowances, or reimbursements only for business expenses that are allowed as deductions under
In the notice of deficiency and on brief, respondent allowed deductions under
An arrangement meets the substantiation requirement if it requires that each business expense be substantiated to the payor within a reasonable period of time.
Petitioner and Mr. Kerkinni testified that petitioner submitted a list of expenses and receipts to Mr. Kerkinni annually. In addition, before making expenditures on behalf of IMC, petitioner would inform Mr. Kerkinni that his work required a certain piece of equipment, and, with Mr. Kerkinni's permission, he would purchase what was needed. Petitioner would then show Mr. Kerkinni the receipts. Mr. Kerkinni asked petitioner to keep track of and save the receipts. Petitioner's lists and receipts were submitted at trial. The lists provided by petitioner stated the date, vendor, description, invoice number, amount, and mileage (where relevant) for each expenditure. Each annual list was attached to an envelope containing receipts for the expenses. Some of petitioner's2004 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 276">*287 expenses were for travel away from home for trade shows, and the rest were for expenses not covered by
As described above, respondent allowed petitioners deductions from adjusted gross income under
In order to meet the substantiation requirement of
Under the arrangement here, petitioner was required to get Mr. Kerkinni's permission before making expenditures for IMC. He was also required to submit his receipts to Mr. Kerkinni for reimbursement. IMC agreed to pay petitioner whatever amounts it could afford to pay as reimbursements. There is no evidence that petitioner was required to return any amounts he received that exceeded his expenses. Although petitioner was required to substantiate expenses, the annual reimbursement amounts exceeded petitioner's expenses. If the excess amounts were meant to be advances for anticipated expenses petitioner would make, there is no evidence that the advances were calculated to approximate the amounts of the anticipated expenditures. The record does not show whether petitioner did in fact return any of the excess amounts to IMC. Based on all the facts available to us, we do not believe that2004 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 276">*290 the arrangement between petitioner and Mr. Kerkinni required petitioner to return excess amounts to IMC. Therefore, the arrangement did not satisfy the returning amounts in excess of expenses requirement of
We believe that petitioner and Mr. Kerkinni did come to an agreement about how IMC would reimburse petitioner for his expenses. However, because petitioners have not shown that the reimbursement arrangement satisfied all three of the requirements of
Petitioners argue that expenditures of $ 10,393.90 petitioner made in 1994 and 1995 were properly excludable from their gross income in the years covered by the accountable plan, because the amounts were repaid as part of an accountable plan. IMC paid petitioner a salary in 19942004 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 276">*291 and 1995 but did not reimburse him for expenses during those years. 2 Because we have found that the arrangement between petitioner and Mr. Kerkinni did not qualify as an accountable plan in 1996, 1997, 1998, or 1999, petitioner's expenses in 1994 and 1995 were not part of an accountable plan in any year.
Petitioner claims that, as a part of his arrangement with Mr. Kerkinni in 1996, he agreed to sell his old tools to IMC. Petitioner used his old tools in his work for IMC, and other employees of IMC also used the tools. In 1996, petitioner brought the tools to IMC and allowed it to take ownership and possession of them. At that time, petitioner agreed with Mr. Kerkinni that he would keep an inventory of the tools that he transferred to IMC. Petitioner updated the inventory list annually as more of his tools were2004 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 276">*292 used by IMC employees. He also agreed to assign a reasonable used value to each tool, which values IMC accepted as sale prices. The record does not show how petitioner arrived at the values he placed on his tools. Respondent does not dispute that petitioner sold his tools to IMC for the amounts petitioner listed in the inventory and that IMC took possession of the tools. We are convinced that petitioner did sell his old tools to IMC.
Petitioners argue that the entire amount IMC paid for the tools should be treated as a return of capital. Respondent argues that because petitioners did not establish basis in any of the purchased tools, the amount paid for the tools should be treated as compensation for services to IMC. Because we have concluded that petitioner did sell his tools to IMC, we disagree with respondent's characterization of the proceeds from the sale of the old tools as compensation. It is likely that some of petitioner's old tools qualified as capital assets under
A taxpayer must establish his cost or adjusted basis for the purpose of determining gain or loss that he must recognize on a sale of property.
Here, petitioners have not provided any facts or details that permit a reasonable estimate of their basis in the purchased tools. Petitioner testified that the tools were his "older equipment" and that he had owned some of them since he was 10 or 12. Pictures of each tool were submitted at trial with petitioner's list of the tools' reasonable used values. The pictures, however, were taken on January 1, 2004, in preparation for trial, and they do not provide evidence of petitioner's cost when the tools were new. The Cohan rule should not be used as a substitute for petitioners' burden of proof.
In summary, petitioners improperly failed to report the following amounts in their income:
Year Sale of tools Compensation
______________________________________________________________________
1996 $ 19,371.25 -0-
1997
1998
1999
Generally, the Commissioner must assess an income tax deficiency for a specified year within 3 years from the date the taxpayer's return for that year was filed.
Respondent asserted an accuracy-related penalty under
We have concluded that petitioners were required to report as gross income the amounts received as reimbursements of petitioner's substantiated expenses and in exchange for petitioner's tools. Our resolution of the issues in this case required careful examination of the relevant laws, trial exhibits, and testimony. Petitioners' omission of the reimbursement income from IMC was made in good faith and with the belief that the reimbursement arrangement would qualify as an accountable plan. It was not unreasonable that petitioners2004 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 276">*301 did not report any of the income, since the arrangement between petitioner and Mr. Kerkinni provided that petitioner would not receive any reportable wages from IMC, and petitioner did not receive a Form W-2 for any of the years in issue. In addition, petitioners' failure to report the proceeds they received for petitioner's tools was a result of their belief that the payments did not exceed p etitioner's basis in the tools. Based on the information they had, petitioners made an effort to comply with the tax laws in preparing their returns. Therefore, we conclude that the accuracy-related penalty is not appropriate, and petitioners are not liable for the penalty pursuant to
To reflect the foregoing and concessions by respondent,
Decision will be entered under
1. Unless otherwise indicated, all section references are to the Internal Revenue Code as amended, and all Rule references are to the Tax Court Rules of Practice and Procedure.↩
2. The record does not show whether petitioners claimed these expenses as miscellaneous itemized deductions from their adjusted gross income in 1994 and 1995.↩
3. We do not believe that any of the tools petitioner sold to IMC during 1999 should be characterized as supplies of a type regularly used or consumed by petitioner in the ordinary course of his trade or business within the meaning of
4. We make the distinction between long-and short-term capital gain with respect to petitioner's old tools only. IMC reimbursed petitioner for the new equipment he purchased for IMC during 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, and 1999 as part of the arrangement between petitioner and Mr. Kerkinni.↩
5. Petitioners signed Form 872, Consent to Extend the Time to Assess Tax, for their taxable years 1996, 1997, and 1999.↩