Judges: "Gustafson, David"
Attorneys: William E. Christie , for petitioners. Daniel P. Ryan and Erika B. Cormier , for respondent.
Filed: Nov. 10, 2009
Latest Update: Dec. 05, 2020
Summary: T.C. Memo. 2009-257 UNITED STATES TAX COURT MOHAMMAD ENAYAT, Petitioner v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent WOODBURY RUG COMPANY, INC., Petitioner v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent Docket Nos. 1488-07, 1489-07. Filed November 10, 2009. William E. Christie, for petitioners. Daniel P. Ryan and Erika B. Cormier, for respondent. MEMORANDUM FINDINGS OF FACT AND OPINION GUSTAFSON, Judge: Petitioner Mohammad Enayat operated a Persian rug business, in some years through his who
Summary: T.C. Memo. 2009-257 UNITED STATES TAX COURT MOHAMMAD ENAYAT, Petitioner v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent WOODBURY RUG COMPANY, INC., Petitioner v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent Docket Nos. 1488-07, 1489-07. Filed November 10, 2009. William E. Christie, for petitioners. Daniel P. Ryan and Erika B. Cormier, for respondent. MEMORANDUM FINDINGS OF FACT AND OPINION GUSTAFSON, Judge: Petitioner Mohammad Enayat operated a Persian rug business, in some years through his whol..
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T.C. Memo. 2009-257
UNITED STATES TAX COURT
MOHAMMAD ENAYAT, Petitioner v.
COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent
WOODBURY RUG COMPANY, INC., Petitioner v.
COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent
Docket Nos. 1488-07, 1489-07. Filed November 10, 2009.
William E. Christie, for petitioners.
Daniel P. Ryan and Erika B. Cormier, for respondent.
MEMORANDUM FINDINGS OF FACT AND OPINION
GUSTAFSON, Judge: Petitioner Mohammad Enayat operated a
Persian rug business, in some years through his wholly owned
C corporation, petitioner Woodbury Rug Company, Inc. (Woodbury),
and in later years through his single-member limited liability
company (LLC), Sutter & Hayes. In 1998 through 2001, business
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revenues and other receipts were deposited into and transferred
among various personal and business bank accounts, and Mr. Enayat
admits that his bookkeeping was “horrible”. For those years
Mr. Enayat filed his own returns late and the C corporation’s
returns late or not at all. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
issued to Mr. Enayat a statutory notice of deficiency on October
17, 2006, pursuant to section 6212,1 showing the following
deficiencies in income tax and additions to tax, respectively,
for tax years 1998 to 2001:
Addition to tax Fraud Penalty
Year Deficiency Sec. 6651(a)(1) Sec. 6663(a)
1998 $349,442 $87,361 $262,082
1999 65,632 16,408 49,224
2000 110,080 27,520 82,560
2001 29,231 7,308 21,923
On the same date the IRS also issued a notice of deficiency to
Woodbury, showing the following deficiencies in income tax and
additions to tax, respectively, for tax years 1998 and 1999:
Additions to Tax Fraud Penalty
Year Deficiency Sec. 6651(a)(1) Sec. 6651(f) Sec. 6663(a)
1998 $74,010 $18,503 --- $55,505
1999 46,499 --- $34,837 ---
1
Unless otherwise indicated, all citations of sections refer
to the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C.), as amended, and
all citations of Rules refer to the Tax Court Rules of Practice
and Procedure.
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After concessions, the issues for decision are:2
Business Income Issues
(1) Whether Mr. Enayat had unreported constructive dividend
income of $203,273 in 1998 and $31,723 in 1999, as a result of
his depositing into his personal accounts checks payable to
Woodbury. We find that he did.
(2) Whether Mr. Enayat had unreported officer’s
compensation of $349,356 in 1998 and $67,2003 in 1999, as a
result of transferring funds from Woodbury accounts to his
personal accounts. We find that he did, and that Woodbury is
therefore entitled to deductions in those same amounts.
(3) Whether Woodbury had unreported gross receipts of
$246,352 for taxable year 1998. We find that it did.
(4) Whether Woodbury had unreported gross receipts of
$162,050 for taxable year 1999. We find that it did.
2
Mr. Enayat does not dispute the following adjustments to
income in the notice of deficiency: gambling income of $16,800
in 1998; rental income of $2,000 in 1998; income from insurance
proceeds of $201,929 in 2000; and gross receipts on Schedule C,
Profit or Loss From Business, in the amount of $113,800 in 2001.
The other adjustments set forth on the Form 4549-B, Income Tax
Examination Changes, that is attached to the notice of deficiency
issued to Mr. Enayat are computational, and their resolution will
follow automatically from the Court’s determinations with regard
to the issues resolved in this opinion.
3
Respondent concedes that Mr. Enayat transferred only
$67,200 from Woodbury’s accounts to his personal accounts in
1999, not $85,200 as reflected in the notice of deficiency.
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(5) Whether Mr. Enayat received additional income of $1,228
in 1999 and $252,721 in 2000 from his LLC, Sutter & Hayes. We
find that he did.
Other Income Issues
(6) Whether Mr. Enayat received additional income of
$305,101 in 1998 as a result of a transfer from Dr. William
Willitts. We find that he did not.
(7) Whether Mr. Enayat is entitled to deduct capital losses
of $71,8124 in 1998 and $46,807 in 1999, from the sale of the Elm
Street property. We find that he is not.
Additions to Tax and Penalty Issues
(8) Whether Mr. Enayat is liable for additions to tax under
section 6651(a)(1) for the failure to timely file his tax returns
for taxable years 1998 through 2001. We hold that he is.
(9) Whether Mr. Enayat is liable for the fraud penalty
under section 6663(a) for the four years 1998 through 2001. We
hold that he is liable for the fraud penalty for the three years
1998, 2000, and 2001, but in amounts less than those determined
in the notice of deficiency. We hold that Mr. Enayat is not
liable for the fraud penalty for the year 1999.
4
The correct amount for the capital gains adjustment in 1998
is $71,812, not $74,812 as stated in the notice of deficiency.
See infra note 23.
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(10) Whether Woodbury is liable for the addition to tax
under section 6651(a)(1) for the failure to timely file its tax
return for 1998. We hold that it is not.
(11) Whether Woodbury is liable for the fraud penalty under
section 6663(a) for the year 1998. We hold that it is not.
(12) Whether Woodbury is liable for the addition to tax
under section 6651(f) for the fraudulent failure to file its tax
return for the year 1999. We hold that it is.
FINDINGS OF FACT
This case was tried in Boston, Massachusetts, on March 19-
20, 2009. The stipulation of facts filed October 20, 2008, the
supplemental stipulation of facts filed March 19, 2009, and the
attached exhibits are incorporated herein by this reference. At
the time Mr. Enayat filed his petition in docket No. 1488-07, he
resided in Massachusetts. At the time Woodbury filed its
petition in docket No. 1489-07, it was no longer actively engaged
in business but had an address in Massachusetts.
Background
Mr. Enayat began working in the Persian rug business when he
was 18 years old, and he owned his own store from 1994 through
the date of trial. During each of the years at issue, Mr. Enayat
was in the business of selling Persian rugs from a retail store
in Bedford, New Hampshire. During taxable years 1998 and 1999,
Mr. Enayat operated and was the sole shareholder of Woodbury, a
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C corporation. Towards the end of 1999, Mr. Enayat formed a
limited liability company known as Sutter & Hayes, LLC (Sutter),
and began operating his business through this entity. During the
years 1999 through 2001, Mr. Enayat was the sole member of
Sutter. Mr. Enayat maintained various bank accounts in his own
name and in the names of Woodbury and Sutter. However, in the
manner described below, business receipts were sometimes
deposited in personal accounts, and money was transferred between
business and personal accounts without documentation being
maintained to justify or explain the transfers. Mr. Enayat
admits, “I treated both myself and Woodbury, and [his investment
accounts at] Oppenheimer, and Merrill Lynch, and Citibank and –-
I treated it all as one.”
Unreported Income of Woodbury
As a retail seller of Persian rugs, Woodbury acquired rugs
from wholesale vendors and then sold them to its own customers,
making its money from those sales. Petitioners--Mr. Enayat and
Woodbury--did not offer into evidence any records of Woodbury
sufficient to show the amount of its sales in 1998 or 1999.
Woodbury reported gross sales receipts of $1,168,759 on its
return for 1998, but at trial Mr. Enayat did not explain how he
had arrived at this figure; and Woodbury’s return preparer
testified that he did not recall what he was given to support the
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sales total. For 1999 Woodbury did not file a return and
therefore did not report receipts in any amount for that year.
In its examination, the IRS performed a bank deposits
analysis to determine the amount of Woodbury’s gross receipts for
1998 and 1999. The IRS began with the gross deposits into
Woodbury’s bank accounts and reduced them by any identifiable
non-taxable5 item (e.g., cash deposits,6 transfers between
accounts, deposits whose source could not be identified or which
were not readily apparent as business receipts, insurance
proceeds, and returned checks) to get net taxable deposits. The
IRS then added to the net deposits all the checks payable to
Woodbury that were deposited in Mr. Enayat’s personal account
(discussed infra beginning at page 10 as “diverted” checks)
because those checks should have been deposited into Woodbury’s
accounts (and thereby should have shown up as gross receipts).
5
The IRS classified as “non-taxable” the money flowing into
Sutter’s accounts that should have been excluded from gross
receipts for various reasons (e.g., receipts that were actually
non-taxable, receipts that should be excluded to avoid double
counting, and unidentified money). However, that classification
does not necessarily mean that all items excluded from Woodbury’s
gross receipts under the IRS’s method were non-taxable under the
Internal Revenue Code.
6
Excluding cash deposits was appropriate to the extent that
the cash might have been obtained by cashing checks that had
already been counted, or by withdrawing the cash from another
bank account whose deposits had already been counted. However,
cash deposits might also have resulted from cash sales, so the
exclusion of all cash deposits may be unduly favorable to
Woodbury where cash sales are a possibility, but the IRS’s
analysis gives Woodbury the benefit of this doubt.
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However, to accurately reflect Woodbury’s gross receipts, the IRS
then reduced its calculation for any transfers Mr. Enayat made
from his personal accounts to Woodbury’s corporate accounts, so
as to prevent double-counting or the taxing of any clearly non-
taxable items. These reductions included money flowing from
Mr. Enayat to Woodbury that were capital contributions, see infra
note 34, or that were transfers from Mr. Enayat to repay diverted
Woodbury checks that Mr. Enayat had deposited in his personal
account, since the diverted checks had already been added to net
deposits.
By its bank deposits analysis, the IRS determined that
Woodbury had additional gross receipts in taxable year 1998, as
follows:
Bank Account Gross Deposits Non-Taxables Net Deposits
Fleet Bank
Account No. 9632 $162,289.53 $151,743.53 $10,546.00
Granite Bank
Account No. 0540 778,408.49 611,664.78 166,743.71
Bank of NH
Account No. 7435 2,193,660.33 1,271,624.11 922,036.22
Granite Bank
Account No. 0492 145,074.14 31,520.98 113,553.16
Total 3,279,432.49 2,066,553.40 1,212,879.09
Less: Gross receipts per 1998 Form 1120 (1,168,759.00)
Unreported gross receipts 44,120.09
Plus: Diverted checks 203,273.00
Total unreported gross receipts for 1998 247,393.09
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As is shown above, that $247,393 represents the difference
between Woodbury’s reported gross receipts on its 1998 Form 1120,
U.S. Corporation Income Tax Return, and the net taxable deposits
as calculated in the IRS’s bank deposits analysis, plus the
checks made out to Woodbury and diverted into Mr. Enayat’s
personal accounts (which should have been deposited into
Woodbury’s accounts but were not). We find that the IRS’s
analysis was reasonable and that Woodbury had additional receipts
of $246,352.7
The IRS did an equivalent analysis for 1999. For that year
Woodbury had failed to file its Form 1120, so there is no
Woodbury-generated number against which to compare the IRS’s
analysis. As it had for 1998, the IRS totaled Woodbury’s gross
deposits for 1999, reduced them by any identifiable non-taxable
item (including any transfers from Mr. Enayat’s personal
accounts), and then added any Woodbury checks that Mr. Enayat had
deposited into his personal account, yielding the following sum:
7
In preparation for trial, respondent had an IRS revenue
agent prepare another bank deposits analysis. This second bank
deposits analysis revealed that Woodbury had additional gross
receipts of $247,393.09 in taxable year 1998 instead of the
additional $246,352 previously determined. However, respondent
never accounted for this difference, so we find that Woodbury had
additional receipts in the year 1998 in the lesser amount of
$246,352, as reflected on the notice of deficiency.
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Bank Account Gross Deposits Non-Taxables Net Deposits
Bank of NH
Account No. 7435 $347,489.73 $244,918.77 $102,570.96
Fleet Bank
Account No. 9632 205,358.91 177,602.46 27,756.45
Total 552,848.64 422,521.23 130,327.41
Plus: Diverted checks 31,723.00
Total unreported gross receipts for 1999 162,050.41
Again, because we find the IRS’s bank deposits analysis to be
reasonable, and because Mr. Enayat has not introduced any
evidence to refute those findings, we find that Woodbury had
unreported gross receipts of $162,050 for taxable year 1999.
Diverted Woodbury Checks Deposited Into Mr. Enayat’s Accounts
As was noted above, in 1998 and 1999 Mr. Enayat deposited
into his personal bank accounts checks that were made out to
Woodbury. He argues that these deposits are not taxable to him
because they were made--and were repaid--pursuant to a procedure
dictated by business necessity, arising from the manner in which
he purchased rugs for resale. Mr. Enayat testified that he
regularly went to New York, picked out the merchandise he wanted
to buy for Woodbury, and negotiated a price and term for payment.
The payments Woodbury owed to the vendors were usually due 90,
120, or 180 days after the date of sale. He wrote a Woodbury
check to the vendor for the purchase price, post-dated the check
to correspond to the payment term (e.g., if payment was due in 90
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days, he would post-date the Woodbury check by 90 days), and took
the merchandise with him.
However, Mr. Enayat testified that he learned that vendors
would often try to cash or deposit these post-dated checks before
their date, and that if there were sufficient funds in the
Woodbury account, the bank would usually honor the check even
though it was post-dated.8 He says that, in order to avoid the
premature negotiation of the Woodbury checks, he adopted the
practice of delaying the deposit of sufficient funds into the
Woodbury account on which the check was drawn until the day
before the post-dated check would mature.
In the meantime, however, Mr. Enayat wanted to negotiate
promptly the corresponding checks that had been written to
Woodbury by its customers. He testified that since he did not
want to put the funds into the Woodbury account, he would deposit
checks from Woodbury customers into his personal accounts, as a
sort of escrow, to be held there until he transferred the funds
to the Woodbury account in order to cover the post-dated checks
as they came due. Thus, Mr. Enayat contends that the presence of
8
Consistent with Mr. Enayat’s account, it appears that under
New Hampshire law (where Woodbury did its banking), a bank may
honor a post-dated check unless its customer provides the bank
reasonable advance notice of the post-dating and describes the
check with reasonable certainty. N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann.
382-A:4-401(c) (Butterworth 1994).
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the deposits in his personal accounts was an accommodation to
Woodbury, and not an appropriation of Woodbury funds.
Mr. Enayat’s explanation seems superficially plausible for
tax year 1998 in the aggregate--since he diverted $203,273 of
Woodbury’s checks but redeposited almost the same amount
($201,950) into Woodbury’s account. However, in 1999 he did not
redeposit any of the $31,723 he diverted from Woodbury.
Moreover, even for 1998 the more detailed facts do not line up
with his story but rather include these six anomalies and
contradictions:
First, Mr. Enayat’s alleged plan of depositing money into
the Woodbury account only as the post-dated checks came due would
have required him to maintain a rather sophisticated system to
anticipate the negotiation of each post-dated check and to keep
in the account just enough money--but no more--to cover the
checks as they came due. Mr. Enayat offered no evidence of any
such system, and he made no showing that the deposits into this
account actually corresponded to the post-dated due dates of the
checks. Instead, it appears that Mr. Enayat wrote checks on
Woodbury’s account (for anything and everything, including but
not limited to the post-dated vendor checks, as we show below)
until the account became overdrawn; and that he would then
deposit enough money back into the account to bring the balance
back into the black.
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Second, Mr. Enayat gave no explanation for how his system
could actually have achieved its supposed goal even if he had
been able somehow to keep track of his check dates and make
deposits to cover the checks only as they became due. If vendors
really did tend to present checks prematurely, and if the bank
did honor prematurely presented checks, then there would be no
way to assure that the funds he carefully deposited would be used
to pay the anticipated and timely presented check rather than an
unanticipated but prematurely presented check. If funds were in
the account but a premature check arrived that the bank honored,
then a timely submitted check presented thereafter would bounce.
Third, although Mr. Enayat’s testimony suggested that
premature negotiation of checks was a persistent risk in his
business, most of the Woodbury checks deposited into his personal
accounts were in fact deposited in February and March 1998, and
the deposits largely tailed off thereafter. The record includes
no information to the effect that the situation changed, and no
explanation for this irregularity.
Fourth, the purpose Mr. Enayat alleges would have naturally
called for the use of a single account, from which funds could be
swept as necessary. But throughout 1998 Mr. Enayat diverted
Woodbury checks into not one but four separate personal accounts
(acct. Nos. 0495, 4702, 1027, and 9215). If Mr. Enayat had truly
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intended to hold these checks in a sort of escrow, there would
have been no reason to deposit these checks in multiple accounts.
Fifth, on the other hand, the money Mr. Enayat redeposited
into Woodbury’s account did not come from all four of those
personal accounts into which Woodbury checks had been deposited,
but rather only two of them (i.e., acct. Nos. 0495 and 1027). If
Mr. Enayat’s story were true, he would have redeposited money
from all four of the accounts to which it had been diverted, but
he did not. Furthermore, from one of those personal accounts--
No. 1027--Mr. Enayat redeposited $36,500 into Woodbury’s account
even though he had diverted only $3,094 into that account in the
first place. Even if Mr. Enayat could logically explain the
necessity of using multiple accounts in this manner, the money
flowing back to Woodbury should have been equivalent to the money
diverted, not just in the aggregate, but account-for-account. It
was not.
Sixth, the transaction history of Woodbury’s corporate
account No. 0540 simply fails to correspond to Mr. Enayat’s
story. While Woodbury did maintain a low or negative balance in
this account at most times (which would seem to support
Mr. Enayat’s story), a review of the account statements shows
that Mr. Enayat also used this account to pay personal expenses
and to buy stock options. Had Mr. Enayat truly been holding
these diverted checks in escrow to prevent the premature
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depositing of post-dated checks, he would have needed to keep the
balance of Woodbury’s account near zero and would have used the
account only for these post-dated check transactions. Using the
account as a general checking account--and depositing in it funds
that were intended to cover other expenses--would (if his story
were true) enable a rug business payee to raid these other moneys
that were put into the account. If Mr. Enayat really had run his
accounts in the manner he alleged with the purpose of preventing
depletion of Woodbury funds by premature negotiation of Woodbury
checks, he would not have put non-Woodbury money at the same
risk.
The evidence does not show that Mr. Enayat held the
proceeds from Woodbury checks in an escrow-like fashion or used
his personal account to “sweep” these diverted checks in any
orderly fashion. We find that he did not do so, but simply
deposited Woodbury checks into his personal accounts for general
use.
Mr. Enayat did not treat any of the diverted Woodbury checks
as income on his own Form 1040, U.S. Individual Income Tax
Return, for 1998 or 1999. In its notice of deficiency, the IRS
effectively treated each Woodbury check deposited in a personal
account as if it were a constructive dividend to Mr. Enayat;9 and
9
The IRS’s notice of deficiency characterized the income
Mr. Enayat derived from depositing Woodbury checks as dividend
(continued...)
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the IRS did not reduce its adjustment by the equivalent amounts
that Mr. Enayat had transferred to Woodbury during 1998.10
Transfers From Woodbury to Mr. Enayat
In addition to the Woodbury checks deposited by Mr. Enayat
into his personal accounts, Woodbury made transfers of funds to
Mr. Enayat throughout 1998 and 1999. Woodbury transferred
$349,356 to Mr. Enayat in 1998 and $67,200 in 1999, either by
checks written to Mr. Enayat or by direct transfers. Mr. Enayat
did not report any of these amounts as income on his Forms 1040,
because (he says) he considered them to be repayments of loans he
had previously made to Woodbury. He testified that he advanced
funds to Woodbury when the business needed them to cover expenses
or inventory, or whenever there were cash flow problems for
9
(...continued)
income. Although Mr. Enayat disputed the characterization of
these amounts as income to him, he did not offer any evidence to
show that, if income, they were officer’s compensation rather
than dividends. Consequently, because we find that these amounts
were income to Mr. Enayat, we accept the IRS’s characterization
as dividend income.
10
As is explained supra p. 7, for purposes of calculating
Woodbury’s taxable income the IRS added the amounts of these
diverted checks to Woodbury’s gross receipts. However, Wood-
bury’s gross bank deposits included transfers from Mr. Enayat,
some of which remitted to Woodbury the proceeds of the diverted
checks. To avoid double-counting the diverted checks as Woodbury
income, the IRS subtracted from Woodbury’s net deposits
Mr. Enayat’s transfers that remitted the amounts of the diverted
checks. Thus, these amounts were treated only once as taxable
income to Woodbury. They were also treated as taxable income to
Mr. Enayat. This double taxation--of the corporation and the
shareholder--is discussed infra pt. II.A.1.
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Woodbury. And he insisted that all the money transferred from
Woodbury to his personal accounts in 1998 and 1999 was for the
repayment of these types of loans; that for every transfer from
Woodbury to Mr. Enayat (i.e., the repayment) there would have
been a preceding transfer from Mr. Enayat to Woodbury (i.e., the
loan); and that Woodbury repaid the loans to him as funds became
available. The evidence does show--broadly consistent with this
account--that Mr. Enayat did make transfers11 to Woodbury from
his personal accounts in amounts totaling $346,238.1112 in 1998
(when the Woodbury-to-Enayat transfers totaled $349,356) and
totaling $164,429.17 in 1999 (when the Woodbury-to-Enayat
transfers totaled only $67,200). These, he says, were the loans
for which Woodbury repaid him with the transfers now at issue,
and the two-year total of these Enayat-to-Woodbury transfers did
substantially exceed the amounts of the Woodbury-to-Enayat
transfers.
11
There is no indication of how the IRS classified the money
flowing from Mr. Enayat to Woodbury, but we assume it was treated
as contributions to capital.
12
These 1998 transfers totaling $346,238 were in addition to
the transfers in that year totaling $201,950 (see supra p. 12), a
few from account No. 1027 and most from account No. 0495, by
which Mr. Enayat transmitted to Woodbury the amounts of the
Woodbury checks that he had deposited in his personal accounts.
In the aggregate, Mr. Enayat’s transfers to Woodbury in 1998 and
1999 totaled $712,617 (i.e., $346,238 plus $164,429 plus
$201,950).
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However, there were no notes or loan agreements executed
between Mr. Enayat and Woodbury for any of these alleged loans,
and he could point to no entries in corporate minutes or
corporate financial records reflecting any such loans.
Mr. Enayat did not charge Woodbury interest on these loans or set
any maturity dates. Moreover, his assertion that the Woodbury-
to-Enayat transfers were always preceded by Enayat-to-Woodbury
transfers is not supported by the evidence. When pressed about a
specific transaction in which $10,000 seemed to go first from
Woodbury to Mr. Enayat, he admitted that it is possible that
Woodbury might have lent him money, and that a later $10,000
Enayat-to-Woodbury transfer may have been a repayment by
Mr. Enayat of a loan made by Woodbury. The Court invited
Mr. Enayat to present in his post-trial brief a detailed analysis
of the bank records to show (if he could) that each Woodbury-to-
Enayat transfer was preceded by an Enayat-to-Woodbury loan; but
he did not do so, and instead limited his presentation to the
aggregate numbers. At one point in the trial, Mr. Enayat
candidly testified that he just treated himself, Woodbury, and
all the bank accounts as one, and we find that to be true. He
did not have a practice or routine that suggests that the
Woodbury-to-Enayat transfers were repayments of prior bona fide
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loans. We therefore find that these amounts were additional
officer’s compensation to Mr. Enayat.13
Unreported Income of Sutter in 1999 and 2000
Sometime in 1999 Mr. Enayat formed Sutter & Hayes as a
single-member LLC and began to operate his rug business through
this entity. On the Schedule C, Profit or Loss From Business,
for Sutter attached to Mr. Enayat’s 1999 Form 1040 he did not
report any gross receipts for Sutter. However, the IRS performed
a bank deposits analysis on the bank accounts of Sutter to
determine Sutter’s gross receipts for 1999 and 2000,14 and the
analysis disclosed two deposits in 1999. Mr. Enayat has now
stipulated that Sutter received two customer checks during
taxable year 1999 totaling $1,228 which were deposited into
Sutter’s bank account. We find that these checks constituted
gross receipts that were taxable in 1999.
In 2000 Mr. Enayat maintained a detailed sales report for
Sutter, which purported to list the date of every sale Sutter
made with the corresponding customer’s name and the amount of the
13
The IRS’s notice of deficiency issued to Mr. Enayat
characterized Woodbury’s transfers to him as officer’s
compensation. Although Mr. Enayat disputed the characterization
of these amounts as income to him, he did not offer any evidence
to contend that, if income, they were anything other than
officer’s compensation. Consequently, because we find that these
amounts were income to Mr. Enayat, we accept the IRS’s
characterization as officer’s compensation.
14
The record does not show whether the IRS performed a bank
deposits analysis for Sutter for its 2001 year.
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sale. Sutter’s 2000 gross receipts as recorded on the detailed
sales report totaled $691,170. Mr. Enayat alleges that the
detailed sales report is a complete list of all sales for Sutter
in 2000, and that it therefore represents Sutter’s entire gross
receipts for 2000. Mr. Enayat reported the gross receipts of
Sutter to be $671,92015 on his 2000 Form 1040.
However, the totals reflected on the sales report and
reported on the return were not consistent with the information
that Sutter included on its claim for business interruption
insurance. In making that claim Sutter reported that, in the
23 weeks preceding the flood that interrupted its business, it
had average weekly sales of $30,099. The 23-week total was
therefore $692,277--a part-year total that already exceeded the
gross receipts Sutter reported for its full year. Clearly
Sutter’s insurance claim left Mr. Enayat with much explaining to
do and rendered the sales report suspect.
To determine the correct figure for Sutter’s gross receipts
in 2000, the IRS conducted a bank deposits analysis. Its agent
totaled the deposits made into Sutter’s accounts in that year and
reduced that amount by any identifiable “non-taxable” item (e.g.,
transfers between accounts, cash deposits, returned checks,
15
Mr. Enayat did not explain the $19,250 difference between
the gross sales of $691,170 reported on the detailed sales report
and the gross receipts of $671,920 reported on Mr. Enayat’s
Schedule C.
- 21 -
refunds, and any unidentifiable deposits) to calculate Sutter’s
net taxable deposits. Bank deposits do not reflect all of
Sutter’s revenues because, as Mr. Enayat stipulated, some of
Sutter’s receipts for 2000 were never deposited into a Sutter
account or in any of Mr. Enayat’s personal accounts.16 For that
reason the IRS compared Mr. Enayat’s detailed sales report--on
which Mr. Enayat supposedly recorded every sale Sutter made--to
actual deposits made into the known accounts. Any customer
payment appearing on the detailed sales report that did not have
a corresponding deposit into a Sutter account or one of
Mr. Enayat’s personal accounts was added to Sutter’s net taxable
deposits to account for total gross receipts for 2000.17 The IRS
also made an adjustment to account for Sutter’s accounts
receivable at the beginning of 2000 compared to the end of 2000,
16
Mr. Enayat stipulated that $428,637.83 in payments
received from customers of Sutter was never deposited into a
Sutter account or in any of Mr. Enayat’s personal accounts.
Undeposited checks totaling this amount were either cashed or
endorsed over to Sutter’s creditors.
17
Where no corresponding deposit could be found for a
reported sale, and where the transaction did not involve the
exchange of money (e.g., an October 14, 2000, entry of $8,560 for
K.N.C. Investments, where Sutter exchanged a rug for the payment
of rent), the IRS added that sale to Sutter’s gross receipts. We
find no fault with this approach. The value that Sutter received
in kind in exchange for a rug should have been included in gross
receipts. At best there might have been an occasion for an
offset (e.g., as a cost of goods sold or as a deduction for the
rent for which the rug was payment), but Mr. Enayat did not show
that the offset had not already been claimed, and he did not
allege or prove his entitlement to further deductions or costs of
goods sold.
- 22 -
because Sutter had used an accrual method of accounting. On the
basis of this analysis the IRS determined that Mr. Enayat had
understated Sutter’s gross receipts for 2000 by $252,722.08, and
we find that this determination was not refuted.
Money Dr. Willitts Entrusted to Mr. Enayat
On July 13, 1998, Mr. Enayat received, in his Oppenheimer
investment account, a wire transfer of $455,485 from a Cayman
Islands account controlled by Dr. William Willitts. Mr. Enayat
testified that Dr. Willitts entrusted this money to Mr. Enayat
pursuant to an arrangement used by Iranian-Americans because it
is impractical or impossible to transfer dollars from the United
States to Iran. A practice has developed under which a transfer
is made indirectly by paying dollars to an American who has a
friend or relative in Iran, and then having the American direct
his friend or relative to make an equivalent transfer in rials
(the Iranian currency) to the ultimate payee in Iran.
Dr. Willitts paid Mr. Enayat $455,485 in the United States with
the understanding that the equivalent amount in rials would be
made available to Dr. Willitts in Iran from the proceeds of the
sale of property owned by Mr. Enayat’s family in Iran.
Dr. Willitts never made it to Iran and never received the
equivalent of $455,485 in rials.
Mr. Enayat testified that once Dr. Willitts wired the funds
into his account, Mr. Enayat had free use of the money.
- 23 -
Dr. Willitts expected Mr. Enayat or his family in Iran to provide
rials in Iran to Dr. Willitts from the proceeds of an unrelated
real estate transaction; he did not expect Mr. Enayat to purchase
rials with the dollars wired into the Oppenheimer investment
account. Mr. Enayat used some of the money to fund his business
and the rest for options trading. By April 30, 1999, the balance
of Mr. Enayat’s Oppenheimer account was zero, indicating that
Mr. Enayat had spent, transferred, or lost (through diminution in
the value of the securities he held) all of the funds in that
account, including Dr. Willitts’s money.
At some point Dr. Willitts’s wife, Dr. Roofeh (who is
Mr. Enayat’s friend), asked Mr. Enayat for $54,000 in the United
States, and Mr. Enayat promptly returned that portion of the
$455,485. Subsequently, Mr. Enayat paid additional sums to or at
the direction of Dr. Willitts, and he testified that he had
returned a total of $270,000 as of the date of trial. However,
there is a dispute over how much Mr. Enayat repaid. An Agreement
and Release which Mr. Enayat, Dr. Willitts, and Dr. Roofeh each
signed in November 1999 characterizes the $454,000 as a debt owed
to Dr. Willitts by Mr. Enayat, and it identifies a dispute in
which Mr. Enayat claimed he owed $285,000, and Dr. Willitts
claimed the outstanding debt was $305,000. Dr. Willitts filed a
Petition for Ex Parte Attachment and Trustee Process in the
Hillsborough County (New Hampshire) Superior Court on or about
- 24 -
December 17, 1999, in which he alleged that Mr. Enayat had repaid
$148,899 of the total sum due of $454,000, and alleged a balance
due of $305,101.18 Dr. Willitts’s petition does not allege
theft, conversion, embezzlement, or misappropriation. On the
record before us, there is no evidence of any wrong by Mr. Enayat
in receiving or using Dr. Willitts’s money. The only wrong even
alleged is his failure to pay the money back after the parties
could not conclude the intended transactions in Iran.
Mr. Enayat alleges that he has repaid the much greater
amount of $310,000--i.e., $270,000 in cash and rugs plus $40,000
from the settlement on the building where Sutter was located--
leaving a balance due of approximately $145,000. However,
Mr. Enayat did not provide any evidence other than his own
testimony to substantiate the repayment of $310,000 of the money
Dr. Willitts transferred to him. As a result, to the extent that
such a finding is needed, we find that, at most, Mr. Enayat had
repaid $148,899 (the amount Dr. Willitts conceded in his
petition).
Mr. Enayat did not report the receipt of the $455,485, or
any portion thereof, on his Form 1040 for 1998 (or any other year
at issue). The IRS determined that Mr. Enayat had repaid a
18
The record does not indicate why the amount recited in the
Agreement and Release was $454,000 or why Dr. Willitts indicated
in his petition that the total balance he entrusted to Mr. Enayat
was $454,000 instead of the $455,485 he wired to Mr. Enayat’s
account.
- 25 -
portion of the money owed to Dr. Willitts, but to the extent
Mr. Enayat had failed to repay the money--$305,101--the notice of
deficiency referred to it as “income from theft” and “embezzled
funds” income to Mr. Enayat.19
Mr. Enayat contends that respondent is estopped from
asserting that he embezzled money from Dr. Willitts because, in a
criminal case against Dr. Roofeh,20 the Government called
Mr. Enayat as a witness in 2001 and evoked testimony from him to
the effect that he did not take or steal the money that
Dr. Willitts had transferred to him. However, without finding
that the Government is estopped from asserting that Mr. Enayat
stole the money,21 we simply find on the preponderance of the
19
Although respondent concedes that some of the money
Mr. Enayat repaid to Dr. Willitts may have been repaid in years
later than taxable year 1998, the adjustment to Mr. Enayat’s
income nets the alleged embezzlement and all the repayments as if
they happened in taxable year 1998, evidently for the sake of
simplicity.
20
United States v. Roofeh, No. 1:00CR00112 (D. N.H.
dismissed Feb. 28, 2001).
21
Mr. Enayat’s estoppel argument is not well grounded. To
be judicially estopped, the Government “must have succeeded in
persuading a court to accept its prior position”, Alternative
Sys. Concepts, Inc. v. Synopsys, Inc.,
374 F.3d 23, 33 (1st Cir.
2004), but Mr. Enayat has not shown that in the Roofeh case the
Government actually took the position that he did not commit
theft or that it succeeded in persuading the Court to accept that
position. Mr. Enayat cites United States v. Kattar,
840 F.2d
118, 128 (1st Cir. 1988)(quoting Napue v. Illinois,
360 U.S. 264,
269 (1959)), for the inapposite proposition that “conviction must
fall when the prosecution, ‘although not soliciting false
evidence, allows it to go uncorrected when it appears’”.
(continued...)
- 26 -
evidence that Mr. Enayat received the money not by theft or
misappropriation but in the transaction that he described. We
find that he therefore owed a debt to Dr. Willitts in that
amount, and during the years at issue the money Dr. Willitts had
transferred to Mr. Enayat and that Mr. Enayat had yet to repay
remained a debt that Mr. Enayat continued to owe Dr. Willitts.
Sale of the Elm Street Property
Until early May 1998, Mr. Enayat rented and resided in a
house on Elm Street in Manchester, New Hampshire. He moved out
in May 1998;22 and about two months later on July 24, 1998, he
purchased the Elm Street house for $210,000 as an investment.
After Mr. Enayat bought the house in July, he began renovating
it; and he sold the house five months later on December 30, 1998,
for $274,000. That the renovation occurred is established not
21
(...continued)
(Emphasis added.) We cannot tell, but perhaps that proposition
could have been helpful to the criminal defendant who was being
prosecuted in Roofeh. However, this deficiency case in the Tax
Court is not a criminal case; Mr. Enayat is not being prosecuted;
and his complaint is not that the Government relies here on
“false evidence” but that it attempts to contradict Mr. Enayat’s
testimony that (he insists) constituted true evidence in another
case. Kattar has no application here.
22
Respondent called Mr. Enayat’s former girlfriend as a
witness at trial to testify that Mr. Enayat had lived at the Elm
Street property from July to December 1998 (i.e., after
Mr. Enayat had purchased the house). However, when pressed on
this issue, the witness admitted that she may have been confusing
December 1997 with December 1998. We find that Mr. Enayat did
not reside at the Elm Street property after he purchased it in
July 1998.
- 27 -
only by Mr. Enayat’s testimony but also by the fact that the
December 1998 sale price was $64,000 higher than Mr. Enayat’s
July 1998 purchase price. However, at trial he offered no
substantiation for any expenditures incurred in the renovation,
and he gave only the most general testimony about the nature of
the renovation.
On his 1998 return Mr. Enayat reported $71,812 in capital
gains from securities transactions and a $118,619 capital loss
identified as “Investment Property/House”. To compute this loss,
we assume that Mr. Enayat included the supposed cost of
renovations in his basis for the house. (With a purchase price
of $210,000 and a sale price of $274,000, it would have taken
more than $182,000 in renovation costs to yield a loss of
$118,619. Mr. Enayat did not substantiate costs of $182,000 or
any other amount.) Mr. Enayat fully offset his 1998 capital gain
of $71,812 with his purported real estate capital loss. He
entered a $3,000 capital loss on line 13 of his 1998 Form 1040,
but because he reported negative adjusted gross income, he did
not actually obtain the benefit of any deduction for capital loss
for 1998. Rather, Mr. Enayat carried forward a $46,807 capital
loss (i.e., $118,619 minus $71,812), and he used that amount to
offset some of his $338,202 net capital gains in 1999.23
23
The parties stipulated that Mr. Enayat claimed his
purported $118,619 real estate capital loss by claiming $74,812
(continued...)
- 28 -
In the notice of deficiency the IRS disallowed these capital
loss deductions for both 1998 and 1999. We find that Mr. Enayat
substantiated his purchase price of $210,000 but not any
additional basis derived from renovations, and that therefore he
did not prove his capital loss.
Mr. Enayat’s Concessions
Mr. Enayat conceded the following four matters:
1. Gambling Income. During taxable year 1998 Mr. Enayat
received gambling income of $16,800 from Foxwoods Casino.
Mr. Enayat did not report the receipt of this gambling income on
his 1998 Form 1040. Mr. Enayat does not dispute that he received
this income or that it should have been reported on his 1998 Form
1040.
2. Rental Income. During taxable year 1998 Mr. Enayat
received rental income of $2,000 from Shorty’s Mexican Roadhouse.
Mr. Enayat did not report the receipt of this rental income on
23
(...continued)
of the loss in 1998 and carrying $46,807 of the loss forward into
1999. The sum of these amounts is $121,619, not $118,619; and
the $74,812 stipulated as claimed in 1998 appears mistakenly to
include the $3,000 Mr. Enayat entered on line 13 of his Form 1040
but that he was unable to deduct. We may disregard stipulations
between parties where justice requires, if the evidence contrary
to the stipulation is substantial or the stipulation is clearly
contrary to facts disclosed by the record. See Cal-Maine Foods,
Inc. v. Commissioner,
93 T.C. 181, 195 (1989); Jasionowski v.
Commissioner,
66 T.C. 312, 318 (1976). The tax returns show that
Mr. Enayat applied $71,812 (not $74,812) to offset capital gains
in 1998 and $46,807 to offset net capital gains in 1999, totaling
$118,619 (not $121,619).
- 29 -
his 1998 Form 1040. Mr. Enayat does not dispute that he received
this income or that it should have been reported on his 1998 Form
1040.
3. Insurance Proceeds. During taxable year 2000 Sutter
was unable to operate for a time because of a flood in the
building. In July 2000 Mr. Enayat filed an insurance claim and
received business interruption insurance payments of $201,929
from Safeco Insurance Co. (Safeco). (As to the amount, see infra
note 29.) Mr. Enayat did not report the receipt of these
insurance proceeds on his 2000 Form 1040. Mr. Enayat does not
dispute that he received this income or that it should have been
reported on his 2000 Form 1040.
4. Stolen Check. During taxable year 2001 Mr. Enayat
received a Bank of America check in the amount of $113,800, which
was from a company called QAD, Inc., and issued to Innuendo, LLC.
Mr. Enayat misappropriated the funds by negotiating the check
with the help of a friend, and he was convicted of receipt of
stolen securities under 18 U.S.C. section 2315 in the U.S.
District Court for the District of New Hampshire. Mr. Enayat did
not report the receipt of the $113,800 on his 2001 Form 1040, and
he does not dispute that this $113,800 should have been reported
as gross receipts on his 2001 Schedule C.
- 30 -
Mr. Enayat’s Federal Income Tax Returns and the Results of the
IRS’s Examination
A. Taxable Year 1998
Mr. Enayat filed his Form 1040 for taxable year 1998 a year
late on April 14, 2000. He reported no wage or salary income.
He claimed a capital loss of $71,812 from the sale of real estate
(the Elm Street property) and carried over $46,807 to his 1999
Form 1040. As a result, he reported no taxable income for 1998.
After examining Mr. Enayat’s 1998 return, the IRS made the
following adjustments to his income:
(1) a $74,812 increase in taxable income, arising from the
disallowance of a capital loss with respect to the sale
of the Elm Street property;
(2) a $16,800 increase in taxable income derived from
gambling;
(3) a $349,356 increase in officer’s compensation income,
to account for transfers of money from Woodbury’s
accounts to his personal accounts;
(4) a $305,101 increase in taxable income, to account for
the transfer from Dr. Willitts;
(5) a $203,273 increase in constructive dividend income, to
account for checks made out to Woodbury but deposited
into his personal accounts;
(6) a $2,000 increase in taxable rental income; and
(7) an $8,100 increase in taxable income, resulting from
the disallowance of personal exemptions because of
Mr. Enayat’s corrected adjusted gross income (AGI)
resulting from the adjustments above.
- 31 -
B. Taxable Year 1999
Mr. Enayat filed his Form 1040 for taxable year 1999 on
October 9, 2002. He reported no wage or salary income, and he
claimed the capital loss of $46,807 that was carried over from
his 1998 Form 1040.24 He attached to his 1999 return a Schedule
C for Sutter. He reported that Sutter had no gross receipts in
1999 but that it had $38,024 in expenses, resulting in a claimed
loss of $38,024 from Sutter. He reported taxable income of
$234,688. Following an examination of Mr. Enayat’s 1999 return,
the IRS made the following adjustments to his income:
(1) a $46,807 increase in taxable income, arising from the
disallowance of a capital loss with respect to the sale
of the Elm Street property;
(2) a $85,20025 increase in officer’s compensation income,
to account for transfers of money from Woodbury’s
accounts to his personal accounts;
(3) a $31,723 increase in constructive dividend income, to
account for checks made out to Woodbury but deposited
into his personal accounts;
(4) a $1,228 increase in the gross receipts reported on his
Schedule C, to reflect Sutter’s correct gross receipts;
and
(5) a $5,184 increase in taxable income, resulting from the
disallowance of itemized deductions because of
24
Mr. Enayat also had other capital gains and losses that
resulted in his claiming a total capital gain of $291,395 on his
1999 return.
25
The IRS later determined--and has conceded in this case--
that the actual amount of Woodbury-to-Enayat transfers was
$67,200. See supra note 3.
- 32 -
Mr. Enayat’s corrected AGI resulting from the
adjustments above.
C. Taxable Year 2000
Mr. Enayat filed his Form 1040 for taxable year 2000 on
October 22, 2002. He reported no wage or salary income. He
attached to his 2000 return a Schedule C for Sutter. He reported
that in 1999 Sutter had gross receipts of $671,920 but had
$332,159 in cost of goods sold plus $457,826 in additional
expenses, resulting in a claimed loss of $118,065 from Sutter.
He reported zero taxable income. After examining that return,
the IRS made the following adjustments to his income:
(1) a $201,929 increase in taxable income to account for
the receipt of insurance proceeds;
(2) a $252,721 increase in the gross receipts reported on
his Schedule C, to reflect Sutter’s correct gross
receipts;
(3) a $9,232 decrease in taxable income, to allow the
increased deduction for one-half of Mr. Enayat’s self
employment tax;26
(4) an $11,169 increase in taxable income, resulting from
the disallowance of itemized deductions because of
Mr. Enayat’s corrected AGI resulting from the
adjustments above; and
(5) a $2,800 increase in taxable income, resulting from the
disallowance of personal exemptions because of
26
Because Mr. Enayat’s self-employment (Schedule C) income
increased, so did his self-employment tax. That self-employment
tax increase is not reflected on the adjustments to Mr. Enayat’s
income, but his deduction for one-half of that higher amount is.
Although Mr. Enayat challenges the IRS’s year 2000 income
adjustment, he did not offer any argument that the amount, if
income, should not be characterized as self-employment income.
- 33 -
Mr. Enayat’s corrected AGI resulting from the
adjustments above.
D. Taxable Year 2001
Mr. Enayat filed his Form 1040 for taxable year 2001 on
October 22, 2002. He reported no wage or salary income and
reported a $30,059 loss from Sutter. He reported no taxable
income for 2001. Following an examination of Mr. Enayat’s 2001
return, the IRS made the following adjustments to his income:
(1) a $113,800 increase in the gross receipts reported on
his Schedule C, to include the amount of a stolen
check; and
(2) a $5,917 decrease in taxable income, to allow the
increased deduction for one-half of Mr. Enayat’s self
employment tax.
Woodbury’s Federal Income Tax Returns and the Results of the
IRS’s Examination
For the year 1998 Woodbury filed its Form 1120 more than
four years late on September 10, 2003, reporting, inter alia,
gross receipts of $1,415,111 and, after deductions, a net loss of
$13,633. After examination the IRS adjusted Woodbury’s 1998
gross receipts upwards by $246,352.
For the year 1999 Woodbury filed no tax return. After
examination the IRS determined Woodbury’s gross receipts--and its
taxable income--to be $162,050 for 1999.
Although the IRS had determined that Mr. Enayat had received
compensation from Woodbury of $349,356 in 1998 and $67,200 in
1999 (a correction from an earlier $85,200), the notice of
- 34 -
deficiency reflected no allowance of deductions for Woodbury in
these amounts. (As we show infra in part I.B.3 and 4, if such
deductions are allowed, the 1998 income adjustment is entirely
offset and the 1999 income adjustment is offset in part.)
The Statutory Notices of Deficiency and the Commencement of These
Cases
On October 17, 2006, the IRS mailed separate statutory
notices of deficiency to Mr. Enayat and Woodbury. In
Mr. Enayat’s notice the IRS determined a deficiency based on the
adjustments of income described above and also determined both
additions to tax for his failure to timely file his returns and
fraud penalties for taxable years 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2001. In
Woodbury’s notice the IRS determined deficiencies for taxable
years 1998 and 1999 based on the adjustments to its gross
receipts as described above and also determined additions to tax
for its failure to timely file its tax return for taxable year
1998 and for its fraudulent failure to file for taxable year 1999
and a fraud penalty for taxable year 1998. Mr. Enayat and
Woodbury both timely petitioned this Court for a redetermination
of their respective deficiencies.
OPINION
I. Unreported Income of Woodbury and Sutter
Mr. Enayat operated his rug business through Woodbury in
1998 and 1999 and through Sutter in 1999 through 2001, kept
sloppy records for both entities, and failed to report much of
- 35 -
their income. Taxpayers bear the responsibility to maintain
books and records that are sufficient to establish their income.
See sec. 6001; DiLeo v. Commissioner,
96 T.C. 858, 867 (1991),
affd.
959 F.2d 16 (2d Cir. 1992); sec. 1.446-1(a)(4), Income Tax
Regs. (26 C.F.R.); see also Estate of Mason v. Commissioner,
64
T.C. 651, 656 (1975), affd.
566 F.2d 2 (6th Cir. 1977).
Mr. Enayat failed to fulfill that responsibility both as to
himself and as to his C corporation, Woodbury.
A. The IRS’s Use of the Bank Deposits Method
When a taxpayer fails to keep adequate books and records,
the IRS is authorized to determine the existence and amount of
the taxpayer’s income by any method that clearly reflects income.
Sec. 446(b); Mallette Bros. Constr. Co. v. United States,
695
F.2d 145, 148 (5th Cir. 1983); Webb v. Commissioner,
394 F.2d
366, 371-372 (5th Cir. 1968), affg. T.C. Memo. 1966-81; see also
Holland v. United States,
348 U.S. 121, 131-132 (1954). The
IRS’s reconstruction of a taxpayer’s income need only be
reasonable in light of all surrounding facts and circumstances.
Schroeder v. Commissioner,
40 T.C. 30, 33 (1963); see also Giddio
v. Commissioner,
54 T.C. 1530, 1533 (1970). The IRS is given
latitude in determining which method of reconstruction to apply
when taxpayers fail to maintain adequate books and records.
Boyett v. Commissioner,
204 F.2d 205, 208 (5th Cir. 1953), affg.
a Memorandum Opinion of this Court; Kenney v. Commissioner, 111
- 36 -
F.2d 374, 375 (5th Cir. 1940), affg. a Memorandum Opinion of this
Court; Petzoldt v. Commissioner,
92 T.C. 661, 693 (1989).
In the instant cases, the IRS chose to apply the bank
deposits method. A bank deposit is prima facie evidence of
income. Tokarski v. Commissioner,
87 T.C. 74, 77 (1986); see
also Clayton v. Commissioner,
102 T.C. 632, 645 (1994); DiLeo v.
Commissioner, supra at 868; Estate of Mason v. Commissioner,
supra at 656. When a taxpayer keeps no books or records and has
large bank deposits, the IRS is not acting arbitrarily or
capriciously by resorting to the bank deposits method. DiLeo v.
Commissioner, supra at 867. The bank deposits method of
reconstruction assumes that all of the money deposited into a
taxpayer’s account is taxable income unless the taxpayer can show
that the deposits are not taxable. See
id. at 868; see also
Price v. United States,
335 F.2d 671, 677 (5th Cir. 1964). The
IRS need not show a likely source of the income when using the
bank deposits method, but the IRS must take into account any
nontaxable items or deductible expenses of which the IRS has
knowledge. See Price v. United States, supra at 677; Tokarski v.
Commissioner, supra at 77.
Using the bank deposits method, the IRS identified
unreported gross receipts for Woodbury for taxable years 1998 and
1999, as well as unreported gross receipts for Sutter
(Mr. Enayat’s LLC) for taxable years 1999 and 2000. As a general
- 37 -
rule, the IRS’s determinations are presumed correct, and the
taxpayer has the burden of establishing that the determinations
in the notice of deficiency are erroneous. Rule 142(a); Welch v.
Helvering,
290 U.S. 111, 115 (1933). As is explained above, we
find that the IRS reasonably reconstructed petitioners’ income
under the bank deposits method for all the years in issue.
B. Petitioners’ Challenge to the Bank Deposits Analysis
Mr. Enayat contends that the IRS’s bank deposits analysis is
faulty. The burden is on the taxpayer to show that the IRS’s
analysis is unfair or inaccurate. Price v. United States, supra
at 677. Petitioners must show either that the IRS’s computation
of their income is inaccurate or that the deposits made into
their bank accounts are not taxable. See Marcello v.
Commissioner,
380 F.2d 509, 511 (5th Cir. 1967), affg. T.C. Memo.
1964-303 and T.C. Memo. 1964-304; Price v. United States, supra
at 678; DiLeo v. Commissioner, supra at 871. We consider each of
the years at issue, taking them out of order to begin with the
year in which Mr. Enayat makes his most serious challenge.
1. Sutter’s Year 2000
For taxable year 2000 Mr. Enayat introduced a detailed sales
report of Sutter which purported to list the date of every sale
Sutter made with the corresponding customer’s name and the amount
of the sale. Mr. Enayat alleges that the detailed sales report
is a complete list of all sales for Sutter in 2000 and that it
- 38 -
therefore represents Sutter’s gross receipts for 2000.
Mr. Enayat reported the gross receipts of Sutter to be $671,92027
on his 2000 Form 1040. However, when the IRS completed its bank
deposits analysis of Sutter’s bank accounts, it found that
Mr. Enayat had understated the LLC’s gross receipts by
$252,722.08.
To determine the correct figure for Sutter’s gross receipts
in 2000, the IRS performed a bank deposits analysis by looking at
the total deposits into Sutter’s accounts and reducing that
amount by any identifiable non-taxable item (e.g., transfers
between accounts, cash deposits, returned checks, and tax
refunds) to get Sutter’s net taxable deposits. Because
Mr. Enayat has stipulated that some of Sutter’s receipts for 2000
were never deposited into a Sutter account or in any of
Mr. Enayat’s personal accounts,28 the IRS then compared
Mr. Enayat’s customer payment summary to actual deposits made
into the known accounts. Any reported customer payment that did
not have a corresponding deposit into a Sutter account or one of
Mr. Enayat’s personal accounts was added to Sutter’s net taxable
deposits to account for total gross receipts for 2000. The IRS
27
The gross receipts as calculated on the detailed sales
report were $691,170. As indicated supra note 15, Mr. Enayat did
not explain the difference between the gross sales reported on
the detailed sales report and the gross receipts reported on his
Schedule C.
28
See supra note 16.
- 39 -
then made an adjustment to account for accounts receivable at the
beginning of 2000 compared to the end of 2000 and for a deposit
from Lynk Systems which was treated as non-taxable. Following
this methodology the IRS determined that Sutter had gross
receipts of $924,624.55 for the year 2000. Because Mr. Enayat
reported Sutter’s gross receipts to be $671,920.47 on his 2000
Schedule C, the IRS determined that Mr. Enayat understated
Sutter’s gross receipts for taxable year 2000 by $252,722.08. We
find the IRS’s bank deposits analysis to be credible. Therefore,
the burden lies with Mr. Enayat to show any flaws in the IRS’s
methodology. Price v. United States, supra at 677.
Mr. Enayat argues that the IRS’s bank deposits analysis on
Sutter’s accounts is flawed because it included in gross receipts
items that had otherwise been counted and should have been
excluded to avoid double-counting--(i) insurance proceeds from
Safeco that had already been attributed as income to Mr. Enayat
and (ii) loans from third parties. Furthermore, Mr. Enayat
argues that he reported Sutter’s gross receipts accurately
because he reported the figure shown on the sales report which
recorded every sales transaction. We do not find any of
Mr. Enayat’s arguments to have merit.
- 40 -
First, Mr. Enayat alleges that the inclusion of the
$266,65229 of Safeco insurance proceeds in the IRS’s bank
deposits analysis for Sutter was wrong because the IRS had
already counted those proceeds as income to him personally. That
is, Mr. Enayat asserts that the IRS did not treat these Safeco
deposits as non-taxable in its analysis and reduce the gross
deposits by these amounts. He does not support this assertion by
an analysis of the bank deposits or a detailed critique of the
IRS’s analysis, and the assertion is wrong as a matter of fact.
Mr. Enayat deposited three checks from Safeco into Sutter’s Fleet
account No. 3078 totaling $226,652. In addition to these three
checks, a fourth check from Safeco in the amount of $40,000 was
evidently negotiated through a third party, so that $40,000 in
Safeco insurance proceeds reached Sutter’s accounts as a cash
deposit. In its analysis of Fleet account No. 3078, the IRS
determined that in 2000 there were gross deposits of $465,179.29
(presumably including the Safeco payments). Of that total, the
IRS treated $322,327.88 as non-taxable items, leaving net taxable
29
The record shows that $266,652 from Safeco was deposited
into Sutter’s Accounts. However, the parties have stipulated
that the insurance proceeds Mr. Enayat received for business
interruption in 2000 totaled $201,929. We do not attempt to
resolve this unexplained discrepancy. Rather, we use the larger
number when that favors Mr. Enayat (i.e., in his critique of the
bank deposits analysis), and we use the smaller number when that
favors Mr. Enayat (i.e., in accepting the stipulated smaller
number as the amount of the income adjustment).
- 41 -
deposits of only $142,831.41, an amount too small to include the
much larger Safeco proceeds.
The IRS specifically identified cash as a non-taxable item
in its analysis. Therefore, the $40,000 cash portion of the
Safeco payments was necessarily treated as non-taxable. Had the
IRS failed to remove the insurance checks totaling $226,652 as
non-taxable items, then the net deposit total for Fleet account
No. 3078 would have had to include that amount, but it clearly
does not. The net taxable deposits for Fleet account No. 3078 is
only $142,831.41, which is much less than the $226,652 (or the
$266,652 with the $40,000 cash deposit included) that Mr. Enayat
accuses the IRS of ignoring, and thereby treating as taxable.
The IRS treated $322,327.88 from this account as non-taxable
items, and it was Mr. Enayat’s burden to prove that the Safeco
checks and cash were not among these items. He failed to do so.
Second, Mr. Enayat alleges that $200,168 of the deposits
found in Sutter’s accounts was not taxable income but rather was
the proceeds of loans by third parties. However, other than his
own testimony, Mr. Enayat provided no proof of these third-party
loans--no loan documents of any kind, no testimony from any of
the alleged lenders, and no minutes or financial entries
reflecting such loans. None of the checks deposited from these
third parties had any markings on them (such as the designation
“loan” written on the front of the check) to indicate that they
- 42 -
were intended as loans. On the contrary, two of the pertinent
checks had markings on them that indicate that they were not
loans (i.e., one check for $10,000 had “9x13” written in the
“memo” area, apparently indicating that the check was for the
purchase of a 9- by 13-foot rug; and one wire transfer for
$25,000 had “1982 Rolls Royce” written on it, indicating that the
transaction involved a car). We find that Mr. Enayat has not
provided credible evidence to prove that any loans were made and
their proceeds deposited into Sutter’s bank accounts in 2000, and
we therefore find no fault in the IRS’s declining to reduce net
deposits to account for these unsubstantiated loans.
Third, Mr. Enayat argues that Sutter’s gross receipts were
not understated because he reported the gross receipts as shown
on the sales report summary that (he says) recorded every sale.
However, the gross receipts he reported did not correspond
precisely to the total amount on the sales report; and more
important, Sutter’s bank accounts received many thousands of
dollars more than Mr. Enayat reported. The IRS determined by its
analysis that Sutter had understated its gross receipts by
$252,722.08. Mr. Enayat’s burden was to prove where that extra
$252,722.08 in deposits came from (if not sales), and he did not
meet that burden simply by insisting that the sales report was
accurate.
- 43 -
We find that Mr. Enayat failed to carry his burden of
refuting the IRS’s bank deposits analysis, and we find that
Sutter had additional gross receipts of $252,722.08 for the year
2000.
2. Sutter’s Year 1999
Mr. Enayat has stipulated that Sutter received two customer
checks during taxable year 1999 totaling $1,228 which were
deposited into Sutter’s Bank of New Hampshire account No. 8876.
However, the Schedule C for Sutter attached to Mr. Enayat’s 1999
Form 1040 reported zero gross receipts. We find that the
customer deposits made into Sutter’s account in 1999 indicate
that Sutter did have gross receipts of $1,228 in the year 1999.
This corresponds with the bank deposits analysis performed by the
IRS.
3. Woodbury’s Year 1998
Woodbury filed its Form 1120 for taxable year 1998 on
September 10, 2003. It reported gross receipts of $1,168,759.
However, Woodbury’s return preparer testified that he did not
recall where that figure came from or how it was computed.
Mr. Enayat offered no sales report summary for Woodbury’s 1998
year as he did for Sutter’s 2000 year. Because we find the IRS’s
bank deposits analysis to be credible, and because Mr. Enayat has
not introduced any evidence to refute it, we find that Woodbury
had additional gross receipts of $246,352 for taxable year 1998.
- 44 -
However, as respondent acknowledged in his brief, Woodbury is
entitled to a deduction in 1998 for the compensation imputed to
Mr. Enayat. The amount of this deduction is $349,356, which more
than offsets Woodbury’s additional income in that year.
4. Woodbury’s Year 1999
Woodbury proffered no sales report summary for the year 1999
and failed to file its Form 1120 for that year. As a result, the
IRS prepared for Woodbury a substitute for return pursuant to
section 6020(b). That substitute for return reported gross
receipts of $162,050 for taxable year 1999, as determined by the
IRS’s bank deposits analysis. Again, because we find the IRS’s
bank deposits analysis to be credible, and because Mr. Enayat has
not introduced any evidence to challenge that analysis, we find
that Woodbury had unreported gross receipts of $162,050 for
taxable year 1999. However, as in 1998, Woodbury is entitled in
1999 to a deduction of $67,200 for the compensation imputed to
Mr. Enayat, thereby reducing Woodbury’s taxable income in that
year to $94,850.
II. Income Mr. Enayat Did Not Report
A. Income From the Rug Business
1. Woodbury Checks Deposited to His Personal Accounts
In the notice of deficiency the IRS determined that
Mr. Enayat had additional constructive dividend income of
$203,273 in 1998 and $31,723 in 1999, as a result of his
- 45 -
depositing into his personal accounts checks made out to
Woodbury. Mr. Enayat did not treat any of the diverted checks as
income on his Forms 1040 for 1998 and 1999.
Mr. Enayat acknowledges that he deposited checks made out to
Woodbury in his personal accounts, but he contends that he was
holding the money for the corporation, in a sort of trust or
escrow arrangement, in order to prevent vendors from prematurely
negotiating Woodbury’s post-dated checks, and that he transferred
the funds to Woodbury’s accounts to cover its checks when they
were actually due. It is true that in 1998 in the aggregate
Mr. Enayat deposited into his personal accounts $203,273 worth of
checks payable to Woodbury and transferred $201,950 back into
corporate accounts, leaving a difference of only $1,323 in his
personal accounts. Moreover, it is also true that funds received
in trust by a trustee are excludable from gross income when:
(i) the funds are subject to a restriction that they be expended
for a specific purpose and (ii) the taxpayer does not profit,
gain, or benefit in spending the funds for the stated purpose.
Ford Dealers Adver. Fund, Inc. v. Commissioner,
55 T.C. 761, 771
(1971) (citing Seven-Up Co. v. Commissioner,
14 T.C. 965 (1950),
Broad. Measurement Bureau, Inc. v. Commissioner,
16 T.C. 988
(1951), Angelus Funeral Home v. Commissioner,
47 T.C. 391 (1967),
affd.
407 F.2d 210 (9th Cir. 1969), and Dri-Powr Distribs.
Association Trust v. Commissioner,
54 T.C. 460 (1970)), affd. 456
- 46 -
F.2d 255 (5th Cir. 1972). On the other hand, funds that are
misappropriated from a trust by a trustee are includable in the
trustee’s gross income. Webb v. IRS,
15 F.3d 203 (1st Cir.
1994); Adams v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1970-104, affd.
456 F.2d
259 (9th Cir. 1972).
We have found that Mr. Enayat did not establish the factual
predicate for his argument. In 1999 he made no transfers to
Woodbury to compensate for its checks, and even in 1998 his
narrative simply does not line up with the facts in the record.
We therefore hold that Mr. Enayat had additional constructive
dividend income of $203,273 in 1998 and $31,723 in 1999.
Mr. Enayat did not attempt to show that Woodbury lacked earnings
and profits sufficient to support a taxable dividend. Cf.
secs. 301(a), (c)(1), 316(a). We find these transfers to be
taxable income to Mr. Enayat.
A consequence of our finding is that the Woodbury checks
Mr. Enayat deposited are taxable income both to him and to
Woodbury. Thus, for a year (such as 1999) in which Woodbury has
positive taxable income rather than loss, Woodbury is liable for
tax on these amounts at its corporate rate, and Mr. Enayat is
liable for income tax on the same amounts at his individual rate.
One could observe that a corporation is a legal fiction (i.e., a
fictitious person created pursuant to State law) and could
complain that this double taxation is therefore founded on a
- 47 -
fiction; but if so, it is a fiction that Mr. Enayat chose when he
incorporated Woodbury. Use of the corporate form entails certain
advantages (chiefly, limited liability for shareholders), and the
business operator who wants those advantages is free to apply to
the State to charter a corporation. However, while the law
grants legal rights and privileges to corporations, it also
confers on them certain duties and obligations--including, in
this instance, being taxable under subchapter C
(sections 301-385).30 For Federal tax purposes, we respect
Mr. Enayat’s creation of Woodbury Rug Company, Inc., and we
acknowledge its distinct existence. As the Supreme Court stated
in Moline Props., Inc. v. Commissioner,
319 U.S. 436, 438-439
(1943):
The doctrine of corporate entity fills a useful
purpose in business life. Whether the purpose be to
gain an advantage under the law of the state of
incorporation or to avoid or to comply with the demands
of creditors or to serve the creator’s personal or
undisclosed convenience, so long as that purpose is the
equivalent of business activity or is followed by the
carrying on of business by the corporation, the
30
It is often possible to achieve the State law advantages
of incorporation while avoiding the status of being a separately
taxable entity for Federal tax purposes. One such means is for
an entity to be disregarded pursuant to the so-called check-the-
box regulations, sec. 301.7701-3(b), Proced. & Admin. Regs.
(26 C.F.R.), see Med. Practice Solutions, LLC v. Commissioner,
132 T.C. ____ (2009), and in the later years at issue in this
case, Mr. Enayat did achieve this disregarded treatment for his
LLC, Sutter, when he organized it to replace Woodbury. Another
common means is to elect subchapter S status for a corporation,
see secs. 1361-1379, but Mr. Enayat made no such election as to
Woodbury for the years in issue.
- 48 -
corporation remains a separate taxable entity. * * *
[Fn. refs. omitted.]
Woodbury is therefore a taxpayer distinct from Mr. Enayat in 1998
and 1999, and each of these two taxpayers must bear his or its
own liability.
2. Transfers From Woodbury
We have found that Woodbury transferred to Mr. Enayat--
either by direct transfers to his personal accounts or by
Woodbury checks made payable to Mr. Enayat--$349,356 in 1998 and
$67,200 in 1999, totaling $416,556. Respondent argues
(consistent with the notice of deficiency) that these amounts
constitute officer’s compensation. Mr. Enayat acknowledges that
he transferred money from Woodbury’s accounts into his personal
accounts, but he claims that these transfers were repayments by
Woodbury of money Mr. Enayat had lent Woodbury throughout 1998
and 1999.31 Mr. Enayat argues that since these transfers
31
Mr. Enayat’s only contention against the taxability of
these amounts is that they were repayments of loans. Mr. Enayat
makes much of the fact that in 1998 and 1999 he transferred to
Woodbury a substantially greater amount--$712,617--than the
transfers he received from Woodbury, see supra note 12, and he
urges that he can hardly have been enriched by these two-way
transfers when in fact he suffered a net deficit. However, he
does not assert that if these transfers are not recognized as
non-taxable loan repayments, then they are dividends rather than
compensation. The reason may be that this characterization, if
successful, would deprive Woodbury of deductions for $416,556 in
compensation paid, thereby increasing its corporate income tax
and penalties. (Dividends would be nondeductible to Woodbury,
and pursuant to section 301(c) they would be: income to
Mr. Enayat, to the extent of Woodbury’s earnings and profits;
(continued...)
- 49 -
represent the repayment of a shareholder loan, they are not
income to him.
Whether a withdrawal of funds by a shareholder from a
corporation or an advance made by a shareholder to a corporation
creates a true debtor-creditor relationship is a factual question
to be decided on the basis of all of the relevant facts and
circumstances. Haag v. Commissioner,
88 T.C. 604, 615 (1987),
affd. without published opinion
855 F.2d 855 (8th Cir. 1988); see
also Haber v. Commissioner,
52 T.C. 255, 266 (1969), affd.
422
F.2d 198 (5th Cir. 1970); Roschuni v. Commissioner,
29 T.C. 1193,
1201-1202 (1958), affd.
271 F.2d 267 (5th Cir. 1959). For
disbursements to constitute true loans, there must have been, at
the time that the funds were transferred, an unconditional
obligation on the part of the transferee to repay the money and
an unconditional intention on the part of the transferor to
secure repayment. Haag v. Commissioner, supra at 615-616; see
also Haber v. Commissioner, supra at 266. Direct evidence of a
taxpayer’s state of mind is generally unavailable, so courts have
focused on certain objective factors to distinguish repayments of
31
(...continued)
then nontaxable return of capital, to the extent of Mr. Enayat’s
basis in his Woodbury stock; then gain from the sale or exchange
of property for the balance. Mr. Woodbury has also not presented
any evidence of Woodbury’s earnings and profits nor of his basis
in its stock.) In the absence of any contention that the
payments were dividends rather than compensation, we do not
address this issue.
- 50 -
bona fide loans from disguised dividends, compensation, and
returns of capital. The factors considered relevant for purposes
of identifying bona fide loans include (1) the existence or
nonexistence of a debt instrument; (2) provisions for security,
interest payments, and a fixed payment date; (3) treatment of the
funds on the corporation’s books; (4) whether repayments were
made; (5) the extent of the shareholder’s participation in
management; and (6) the effect of the “loan” on the
shareholder/employee’s salary. Haber v. Commissioner, supra at
266; see also United States v. Stewart (In re Indian Lake
Estates, Inc.),
448 F.2d 574, 578-579 (5th Cir. 1971); Haag v.
Commissioner, supra at 616-617 & n.6. When the individuals are
in substantial control of the corporation, as Mr. Enayat was in
this case, such control invites a special scrutiny of the
situation. Haber v. Commissioner, supra at 266; Roschuni v.
Commissioner, supra at 1202. For the reasons set forth below, we
conclude that the facts of record do not support Mr. Enayat’s
attempt to characterize the distributions that he received from
Woodbury in 1998 and 1999 as repayments of bona fide loans.
First, no note or other evidence of indebtedness reflecting
the amount or existence of the shareholder loans was given to
Mr. Enayat by Woodbury. Furthermore, in the absence of explicit
evidence of indebtedness, Mr. Enayat did not even provide an
analysis of the transactions to support his assertion that every
- 51 -
payment from Woodbury to Mr. Enayat was preceded by a loan from
Mr. Enayat to Woodbury, despite the Court’s invitation to him to
do so. Instead, Mr. Enayat provided only gross numbers for the
transfers for the entire year.32 Although his arithmetic is
correct, his reasoning is not: Where the Enayat-to-Woodbury
transfers only sometimes preceded the Woodbury-to-Enayat
transfers and other times followed them, it cannot be said that
the pattern of the money transfers corroborates the existence of
loans from Mr. Enayat to Woodbury.
Second, Mr. Enayat’s position that these transfers from
Woodbury represented the repayment of loans is further belied by
his testimony admitting that he treated himself, Woodbury, and
all the bank accounts as one.
Third, no evidence indicates that Woodbury provided any
collateral or security for repayment of these purported loan
amounts or that Woodbury made any agreement with Mr. Enayat as to
the time of repayment or the interest to be paid.
Fourth, Mr. Enayat offered no evidence to show whether
Woodbury treated his transfers as loans (rather than as
contributions) on the company’s books. And, as the examining IRS
32
Mr. Enayat alleges that he received net compensation of
only $3,117.89 in 1998 (i.e., the $349,356 in Woodbury-to-Enayat
transfers minus the $346,238.11 in Enayat-to-Woodbury transfers)
and that he received no compensation at all in 1999 (since the
$67,200 in Woodbury-to-Enayat transfers minus the $164,429.17 in
Enayat-to-Woodbury transfers yields a negative number).
- 52 -
agent observed, the Schedule L, Balance Sheets per Books, on
Woodbury’s 1998 return showed no loans to or from shareholders.
Fifth, Mr. Enayat’s position requires the unlikely
conclusion that he was entitled to zero compensation for working
full time at Woodbury. Mr. Enayat has worked in the Persian rug
business since he was 18 years old and has owned his own store
since 1994. He testified that he was actively engaged in his
business, e.g., traveling to New York to purchase inventory,
managing the store, selling his inventory, and so on. However,
despite the flow of funds from Woodbury to Mr. Enayat, he
reported zero wage income on his 1998 and 1999 Forms 1040, and
Woodbury claimed zero deductions for officer’s compensation (in
1998, the one year for which it did file a return). We find that
some of the money paid to him by Woodbury must have been
compensation for his labor,33 and in the absence of his carrying
his burden to prove a reasonable alternative, the IRS’s
determination stands.
That is, we conclude that Mr. Enayat did not give and
receive transfers pursuant to a true debtor-creditor relationship
33
See Spicer Accounting, Inc. v. United States,
918 F.2d 90,
93 (9th Cir. 1990) (an officer who performs substantial services
for a corporation is an employee, and corporate payments to him
are wages); Joseph Radtke, S.C. v. United States,
712 F. Supp.
143, 145-146 (E.D. Wis. 1989) (corporate payments to employees in
remuneration for services are wages, and the corporation may not
evade employment taxes by characterizing such compensation as
dividends), affd.
895 F.2d 1196 (7th Cir. 1990).
- 53 -
with Woodbury. Rather, Mr. Enayat treated Woodbury’s bank
accounts as if they were his personal accounts, depositing and
withdrawing funds at will. Accordingly, we find that the
transfers made from Woodbury to Mr. Enayat during 1998 and 1999
did not constitute repayments of bona fide loans, but instead
represented compensation to Mr. Enayat. Therefore, we find, as
the IRS determined, that Woodbury paid Mr. Enayat officer’s
compensation income of $349,356 in 1998 and $67,200 in 1999 by
transferring funds to his personal accounts.34 (This finding is
adverse to Mr. Enayat but is favorable to his C corporation
Woodbury, as we explain below.)
B. Transfer From Dr. Willitts
We have found that in 1998 Mr. Enayat received $455,485 from
Dr. Willitts, which Mr. Enayat was obliged to pay back to
Dr. Willitts at his instruction (originally expected to be in
rials in Iran). Mr. Enayat freely used the money for his rug
business and his own options trading, and he substantiated
repayments of only $148,899. The IRS determined that
Mr. Enayat’s use of those funds for his own purposes demonstrates
that he embezzled, stole, or misappropriated those funds from
Dr. Willitts and that once he did so the funds became income to
34
Because we do not find any creditor-debtor relationship to
exist between Woodbury and Mr. Enayat, we find that any transfer
of money from Mr. Enayat to Woodbury was not a loan, but rather a
contribution to capital.
- 54 -
him. Under section 61(a), “gross income means all income from
whatever source derived”. The Supreme Court “has given a liberal
construction to the broad phraseology of the ‘gross income’
definition statutes in recognition of the intention of Congress
to tax all gains except those specifically exempted.” James v.
United States,
366 U.S. 213, 219 (1961) (citing Commissioner v.
Jacobson,
336 U.S. 28, 49 (1949), and Helvering v. Stockholms
Enskilda Bank,
293 U.S. 84, 87-91 (1934)). The Supreme Court
held that embezzled funds and, more generally, “wrongful
appropriations” are includable in gross income.
Id. at 219-220.
However, Mr. Enayat’s uncontradicted explanation of his
arrangement with Dr. Willitts was that he was to deliver rials in
Iran in exchange for dollars received in the United States,
without any restriction on his use of the dollars he received
because both parties understood that the rials provided in Iran
would come from a different source. The record indicates an
express obligation by Mr. Enayat to repay the money to
Dr. Willitts--in rials if Dr. Willitts had made it to Iran, or if
not then in dollars as affirmed in the November 1999 Agreement
and Release. Mr. Enayat repaid some of the funds on demand and a
portion later. None of these facts demonstrates that Mr. Enayat
wrongfully appropriated Dr. Willitts’s money; rather, he owed a
debt to Dr. Willitts.
- 55 -
Generally, a taxpayer must recognize income from the
discharge of indebtedness. Sec. 61(a)(12); United States v.
Kirby Lumber Co.,
284 U.S. 1 (1931). “The moment it becomes
clear that a debt will never have to be paid, such debt must be
viewed as having been discharged.” Cozzi v. Commissioner,
88
T.C. 435, 445 (1987). There is no evidence that such a moment
had arrived during the years in issue with respect to
Mr. Enayat’s obligation to repay Dr. Willitts. On the contrary,
Dr. Willitts petitioned a New Hampshire State court in late 1999
for attachment of Mr. Enayat’s assets. Mr. Enayat had not fully
repaid Dr. Willitts during the years in issue, but there is no
evidence that Dr. Willitts had released Mr. Enayat from his
repayment obligation in any year before us.
Throughout the years in issue, Mr. Enayat remained obligated
to repay Dr. Willitts. As a result, we hold that Mr. Enayat did
not have income from the transfer he received from Dr. Willitts.
C. Capital Loss on the Sale of the Elm Street Property
We have found that Mr. Enayat purchased the Elm Street house
as an investment in July 1998 for $210,000; that he performed
some renovations on the house, but did not substantiate
expenditures in any amount; and that he sold the house in
December 1998 for $274,000. Mr. Enayat reported a total capital
loss of $118,619 from the sale of the Elm Street property
(thereby implicitly claiming renovation expenses of more than
- 56 -
$182,000), offset $71,812 in 1998 capital gains with part of this
purported capital loss, and offset $46,807 in 1999 capital gains
with the remaining purported real estate loss. See supra note
23. In the notice of deficiency the IRS disallowed these capital
loss deductions.
Because we find that Mr. Enayat did not substantiate his
basis in the property above his cost basis of $210,000, we find
that Mr. Enayat is not entitled to a capital loss in 1998 or 1999
based on his sale of the Elm Street property.
In his post-trial brief respondent asserted for the first
time that Mr. Enayat “received, if anything, a short term capital
gain in the amount of $64,000” (i.e., the difference between his
July purchase price and his December sale price). No capital
gain adjustment was proposed in the notice of deficiency, nor in
respondent’s answer, nor in respondent’s pretrial memorandum; and
respondent did not argue this adjustment at trial nor evoke
testimony that could be recognized as specifically directed to
the issue. We therefore hold that the issue was not timely
raised and that, if it had been, it would have been a new matter
on which respondent bore the burden of proof, see Rule 142(a)(1),
which he did not carry.
D. Issues Mr. Enayat Conceded
As we noted above, Mr. Enayat concedes that he received, did
not report, and should have reported: $15,800 of gambling income
- 57 -
in 1998; $2,000 in rental income in 1998; $201,929 in business
interruption insurance proceeds in 2000; and $113,800 from a
stolen check in 2001. These amounts are taxable income to
Mr. Enayat.
III. Additions to Tax and Penalties
In addition to deciding the tax liability that Mr. Enayat
and Woodbury will bear on the foregoing amounts, we must decide
their liability for additions to tax and penalties.
A. Mr. Enayat’s Liability for the Additions to Tax
1. Failure-To-File Addition to Tax Under Section
6651(a)(1)
Mr. Enayat does not dispute that he failed to timely file
his Forms 1040 for taxable years 1998 through 2001. The due
dates and filing dates were as follows:
Tax Year Due Date Return Filed
1998 Apr. 15, 1999 Apr. 14, 2000
1999 Apr. 15, 2000 Oct. 9, 2002
2000 Apr. 15, 2001 Oct. 22, 2002
2001 Apr. 15, 2002 Oct. 22, 2002
The IRS determined that Mr. Enayat is liable for the section
6651(a)(1) addition to tax for all four of those years. Section
6651(a)(1) imposes an addition to tax for failure to file a
timely return, unless the taxpayer establishes that the failure
did not result from “willful neglect” and that the failure was
due to “reasonable cause”. “Willful neglect” has been
interpreted to mean a conscious, intentional failure or reckless
- 58 -
indifference. United States v. Boyle,
469 U.S. 241, 245-246
(1985). “Reasonable cause” requires the taxpayer to demonstrate
that the taxpayer exercised ordinary business care and prudence
and was nevertheless unable to file a return within the
prescribed time.
Id. at 246; sec. 301.6651-1(c)(1), Proced. &
Admin. Regs.
Mr. Enayat has not shown or even argued that he exercised
reasonable care with regard to his failure to file his returns.
We find that Mr. Enayat is liable for the section 6651(a)(1)
addition to tax for taxable years 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2001.
2. Fraud Penalty Under Section 6663(a)
The IRS determined that Mr. Enayat is liable for the fraud
penalty under section 6663(a) for fraudulently understating his
income on his 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2001 income tax returns.
Section 6663(a) imposes a penalty equal to 75 percent of the
portion of any underpayment attributable to fraud.
a. Legal Principles Regarding Fraud
Respondent has the burden of proving fraud by clear and
convincing evidence. See sec. 7454(a); Rule 142(b); Parks v.
Commissioner,
94 T.C. 654, 660 (1990). Respondent must prove by
clear and convincing evidence (1) that Mr. Enayat underpaid
his taxes in each year and (2) that Mr. Enayat intended to
evade taxes by conduct intended to conceal, mislead, or otherwise
- 59 -
prevent tax collection. See Parks v. Commissioner, supra at 660-
661. Fraud is an actual wrongdoing with an intent to evade a tax
believed to be owing. Marshall v. Commissioner,
85 T.C. 267, 272
(1985). Fraud is never presumed and must be established by
independent evidence of fraudulent intent. Petzoldt v.
Commissioner,
92 T.C. 699. Accordingly, the existence of
fraud is a question of fact that a court must consider on the
basis of an examination of the entire record and the taxpayer’s
entire course of conduct.
Id. However, “Fraud ‘does not include
negligence, carelessness, misunderstanding or unintentional
understatement of income.’” Zhadanov v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo.
2002-104 (quoting United States v. Pechenik,
236 F.2d 844, 846
(3d Cir. 1956)). If respondent shows that any part of an
underpayment is due to fraud, the entire underpayment is treated
as due to fraud unless Mr. Enayat shows by a preponderance of the
evidence that part of the underpayment is not due to fraud. See
sec. 6663(b).
Courts have developed a nonexclusive list of factors that
demonstrate fraudulent intent. These “badges of fraud” include:
(1) understating income; (2) maintaining inadequate records;
(3) implausible or inconsistent explanations of behavior;
(4) concealment of income or assets; (5) failing to cooperate
with tax authorities; (6) engaging in illegal activities; (7) an
intent to mislead which may be inferred from a pattern of
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conduct; (8) lack of credibility of the taxpayer’s testimony;
(9) filing false documents; (10) failing to file tax returns; and
(11) dealing in cash. Spies v. United States,
317 U.S. 492, 499
(1943); Douge v. Commissioner,
899 F.2d 164, 168 (2d Cir. 1990);
Bradford v. Commissioner,
796 F.2d 303, 307-308 (9th Cir. 1986),
affg. T.C. Memo. 1984-601; Recklitis v. Commissioner,
91 T.C.
874, 910 (1988). Although no single factor is necessarily
sufficient to establish fraud, the combination of a number of
factors constitutes persuasive evidence. Solomon v.
Commissioner,
732 F.2d 1459, 1461 (6th Cir. 1984), affg. per
curiam T.C. Memo. 1982-603.
Respondent contends that the following badges of fraud are
present with respect to Mr. Enayat: (1) understating income,
(2) maintaining inadequate records, (3) implausible or
inconsistent explanations of behavior, (4) concealment of assets,
(5) engaging in illegal activities, (6) lack of credibility in
testimony, (7) dealing extensively in cash, (8) pattern of
conduct which implies an intent to mislead, and (9) failing to
file tax returns.
b. Mr. Enayat’s Underpayments Due to Fraud
We find some of those badges of fraud to be present in this
case. First, Mr. Enayat understated his income for every year at
issue. Second, Mr. Enayat admittedly maintained inadequate
records. Third, Mr. Enayat engaged in illegal activities (i.e.,
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theft). Fourth, Mr. Enayat dealt extensively in cash. Fifth,
Mr. Enayat has exhibited a pattern of conduct which implies an
intent to mislead by admittedly receiving income in 1998, 2000,
and 2001 that he did not report on his income tax returns, yet
offering no explanation for his failure to do so. Lastly,
Mr. Enayat failed to timely file his tax return for every year at
issue. As a result, we find Mr. Enayat’s actions were intended
to conceal, mislead, or otherwise prevent tax collection.
Specifically, we find that Mr. Enayat’s failure to report
income he now concedes he should have reported--i.e., $16,800 in
gambling income in 1998, $2,000 in rental income in 1998,
$201,929 in insurance proceeds in 2000, and $113,800 in theft
income in 2001--was fraudulent. These were not trivial amounts
that might have been overlooked or forgotten. Mr. Enayat offered
no explanation for how he could have filed a tax return for any
of these years and omitted these items out of carelessness or
negligence. On the basis of Mr. Enayat’s concession and our
finding of fraud, we find that respondent has shown that some
portion of Mr. Enayat’s underpayment in each of the three years
involving those items--1998, 2000, and 2001--was due to fraud.
As a result, the entire underpayment for each of those years is
treated as due to fraud unless Mr. Enayat shows by a
preponderance of the evidence that part of the underpayment is
not due to fraud. See sec. 6663(b).
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c. Mr. Enayat’s Underpayments Not Due to Fraud
i. Capital Loss
As for taxable year 1998, we have already found that failure
to report $16,800 in gambling income and $2,000 in rental income
was fraudulent. With respect to the capital loss claimed by
Mr. Enayat on the sale of the Elm Street property but disallowed
in the notice of deficiency and in this opinion, we do not find
Mr. Enayat’s actions to be fraudulent. Mr. Enayat disclosed the
sale of the property on his return by claiming a loss, and it was
his failure to prove his basis in the property that resulted in
the capital gain. Mr. Enayat’s failure to report this capital
gain was due to his negligence in not properly substantiating his
renovation expenses. As a result, we do not find fraud in this
particular issue.
ii. Woodbury Checks and Transfers
The rest of Mr. Enayat’s underreporting of income for
taxable year 1998 results from our finding that he received
$203,273 in dividend income from checks payable to Woodbury, as
well as $349,356 in officer’s compensation transferred to him
from Woodbury, totaling $552,629. On the totality of facts, we
do not find these transactions to be fraudulent, despite their
magnitude.
In 1998 money flowed back and forth between Woodbury and
Mr. Enayat in roughly equal amounts. In 1998 Woodbury gave
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Mr. Enayat a total of $552,629, while Mr. Enayat gave Woodbury
$548,188 ($346,238 in capital contributions mistakenly
characterized as shareholder loans by Mr. Enayat, and $201,950 in
redeposits of diverted checks). While we do not approve of the
haphazard flow of money between the two, or of Mr. Enayat’s using
Woodbury’s accounts as his personal checking accounts, we have
addressed those issues in deciding whether these transactions
resulted in taxable income to Mr. Enayat. Under our opinion,
Mr. Enayat is liable for income tax on his end of those
transfers, and we have held that the rough balance in money given
and received does not excuse his liability. However, what cannot
be ignored is that of all the money that flowed between the two,
the total amounts going either way were very close--$552,629
versus $548,188. As a result, we do not find that Mr. Enayat
intended to conceal, mislead, or otherwise prevent tax collection
in his dealings with Woodbury in taxable year 1998. His error--
i.e., his assumption that the rough equivalence of the back-and-
forth transfers eliminated their taxability--amounted to
negligence but not fraud.
We likewise find that to be so for the year 1999.
Throughout 1999 Woodbury made transfers to Mr. Enayat totaling
$98,723 (i.e., $67,200 in direct transfers and $31,723 in
diverted checks), while Mr. Enayat made transfers to Woodbury
totaling $164,429 (all in capital contributions mistakenly
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considered shareholder loans by Mr. Enayat, because Mr. Enayat
did not redeposit any of the diverted checks in 1999). Again,
because throughout 1999 he actually transferred more money to
Woodbury than he received--$164,429 versus $98,723--we find that
Mr. Enayat’s non-reporting of this income was negligent but not
fraudulent.
The only other unreported income in taxable year 1999 was
$1,228 in gross receipts for Sutter. In the broader context of
the facts of this case, these receipts were de minimis, and we do
not find that Mr. Enayat fraudulently tried to hide this small
amount. As a result, we do not find any fraud with respect to
taxable year 1999.
However, the same cannot be said for Mr. Enayat’s
underreporting of Sutter’s gross receipts in taxable year 2000.
As we already decided, Mr. Enayat fraudulently failed to report
$201,929 in insurance proceeds in 2000. As a result, the entire
underpayment will be treated as attributable to fraud, absent
proof as to non-fraudulent portions. See sec. 6663(b). This
places the burden on Mr. Enayat to show that his failure to
report $252,721 in gross receipts for Sutter in 2000 was not
fraudulent. He has failed to do so. Mr. Enayat did argue that
the IRS’s bank deposits analysis was flawed and that he
accurately reported Sutter’s gross receipts because he reported
the figure shown on his sales report, but we have already
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disposed of those challenges and found them to be without merit.
Mr. Enayat has introduced no other evidence to persuade us that
such a substantial understatement of Sutter’s gross receipts
would be anything other than fraudulent. As a result, we find
Mr. Enayat’s understatement of Sutter’s gross receipts in taxable
year 2000 to be fraudulent.
B. Whether Woodbury Is Liable for the Additions to Tax and
Penalty As Determined by the IRS
1. Failure-To-File Addition to Tax Under Section
6651(a)(1) and Fraud Penalty Under Section 6663(a)
in 1998
The IRS determined that Woodbury is liable for the
section 6651(a)(1) addition to tax for taxable year 1998 because
Woodbury failed to timely file its tax return for that year, and
that Woodbury is liable for the fraud penalty under section
6663(a) for fraudulently understating its gross receipts on its
1998 income tax return. It is true that Woodbury filed its 1998
Form 1120 late (i.e., more than four years late on September 10,
2003), that Woodbury has not shown that it exercised reasonable
care in this matter, and that the return Woodbury eventually
filed did understate its gross receipts. However, because we
find (as the IRS determined) that Woodbury paid additional
compensation to Mr. Enayat in the form of the Woodbury-to-Enayat
transfers totaling $349,356, and because we hold (as the IRS
concedes) that Woodbury was entitled to an additional deduction
in the amount of those transfers, Woodbury ends up with no net
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income in 1998, but rather a loss. Woodbury therefore has no
income tax liability for 1998. Since the addition to tax and
penalty at issue would be a percentage of the underpayment of
Woodbury’s now-zero income tax liability, the addition to tax and
penalty are also zero.
2. Fraudulent Failure-To-File Addition to Tax Under
Section 6651(f) in 1999
The IRS determined that Woodbury was liable for the addition
to tax pursuant to section 6651(f) for fraudulently failing to
file a timely income tax return for taxable year 1999. In
failing to file that return, the IRS determined, Woodbury failed
to report $162,050 in gross receipts for taxable year 1999. To
determine whether Woodbury fraudulently failed to file its tax
return for taxable year 1999, we examine the same badges of fraud
we used when considering the imposition of the fraud penalty
against Mr. Enayat under section 6663(a), see Clayton v.
Commissioner,
102 T.C. 653, but we necessarily focus on
Woodbury’s decision not to file its return when due. If that
decision was made with the intent to evade tax, then the addition
to tax under section 6651(f) may properly be imposed. Again,
respondent has the burden of proving fraud by clear and
convincing evidence. See sec. 7454(a); Rule 142(b); Parks v.
Commissioner,
94 T.C. 660-661. To find tax fraud against the
corporation, respondent is required to prove that Mr. Enayat
engaged in fraudulent conduct on behalf of the corporation.
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E.J. Benes & Co. v. Commissioner,
42 T.C. 358, 382 (1964), affd.
355 F.2d 929 (6th Cir. 1966).
Respondent contends that the following badges of fraud are
present in 1999 with respect to Woodbury: (1) maintaining
inadequate records, (2) concealment of assets, (3) dealing
extensively in cash, and (4) failing to file tax returns.
Mr. Enayat infused the corporation with his personal funds and
withdrew funds at will, and he admittedly did not keep accurate
books for Woodbury. Mr. Enayat, as the operator and sole
shareholder of Woodbury, abdicated his responsibility to
accurately report Woodbury’s financial dealings and tax
obligations. We have found that Woodbury failed to file its
return or report gross receipts of $162,050 for taxable year
1999, and when the IRS determined that Woodbury had gross
receipts in that amount, Mr. Enayat did not introduce any
evidence to prove Woodbury’s gross receipts were other than as
the IRS determined. Woodbury failed to file its return for 1999
altogether after filing its return for 1998 four years late. In
view of all these facts, Mr. Enayat’s management of Woodbury went
beyond haphazard and was fraudulent. Mr. Enayat undoubtedly knew
that a tax return was required to be filed for Woodbury, and his
failure to file one indicates that he was trying to evade taxes.
As a result, given Mr. Enayat’s pattern of filing his own tax
returns late, as well as his filing Woodbury’s 1998 tax return
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late, we do not find that his failure to file Woodbury’s 1999 tax
return was unintentional.
Therefore, on the basis of our examination of the entire
record and Mr. Enayat’s entire course of conduct, we find that
Woodbury fraudulently failed to file its tax return for taxable
year 1999. However, because we find (as the IRS determined) that
Woodbury paid additional compensation to Mr. Enayat in the form
of the Woodbury-to-Enayat transfers totaling $67,200 in 1999, and
because we hold (as the IRS concedes) that Woodbury is entitled
to an additional deduction in the amount of those transfers,
Woodbury ends up with less income (i.e., $162,050 minus $67,200,
or $94,850)--and therefore a lower tax liability--than the amount
the IRS used in calculating the penalty.
IV. Whether the Statute of Limitations Bars Assessment of
Mr. Enayat’s or Woodbury’s Tax Liabilities
Generally, the IRS must assess tax within three years after
the return is filed.35 Sec. 6501(a). This general rule would
provide that assessments against Mr. Enayat would be restricted
as follows:
35
If a return is filed before its due date, it is treated as
being filed on its due date for the purposes of section 6501(a).
Sec. 6501(b)(1).
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3-Year Limitation
Tax Year Due Date Return Filed on Assessment
1998 Apr. 15, 1999 Apr. 14, 2000 Apr. 14, 2003
1999 Apr. 15, 2000 Oct. 9, 2002 Oct. 9, 2005
2000 Apr. 15, 2001 Oct. 22, 2002 Oct. 22, 2005
2001 Apr. 15, 2002 Oct. 22, 2002 Oct. 22, 2005
The IRS issued to Mr. Enayat a notice of deficiency for 1998,
1999, 2000, and 2001 on October 17, 2006. This was well after
the three-year period of limitations on assessment had expired
for each of these years, so respondent bears the burden of
proving that an exception to the three-year limit on the time to
assess tax applies. See Wood v. Commissioner,
245 F.2d 888,
893-895 (5th Cir. 1957), affg. in part and revg. in part on other
grounds T.C. Memo. 1955-301; Bardwell v. Commissioner,
38 T.C.
84, 92 (1962), affd.
318 F.2d 786 (10th Cir. 1963). Respondent
has shown that Mr. Enayat filed fraudulent returns by
fraudulently underreporting his income for taxable years 1998,
2000, and 2001. Because section 6501(c)(1) allows assessment at
any time in the case of a fraudulent return, we conclude that the
statute of limitations does not bar assessment of Mr. Enayat’s
tax for 1998, 2000, or 2001.
With respect to taxable year 1999, respondent failed to
prove Mr. Enayat filed a fraudulent return, but we nevertheless
conclude on other grounds that the statute of limitations does
not bar assessment of Mr. Enayat’s tax for 1999. Section 6501(e)
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permits a six-year period of limitations for assessment in the
case of a taxpayer who omits from gross income an amount properly
includable therein which is more than 25 percent of the amount of
gross income stated on the return. On his 1999 return,
Mr. Enayat reported his gross income, i.e., total income, to be
$301,904. The IRS determined (and we have found) that Mr. Enayat
understated his income for 1999 by $100,151--i.e., $31,723 in
constructive dividends from Woodbury, $67,200 in compensation
from Woodbury, and $1,228 from Sutter’s additional gross
receipts. The IRS will be afforded a six-year period of
limitations for assessment if Mr. Enayat’s understatement of
income ($100,151) exceeds 25 percent of $301,904 (i.e., $75,476).
We find that it does.
As for Woodbury, the IRS issued a notice of deficiency for
taxable year 1998 on October 17, 2006, which was more than three
years after Woodbury had filed its return for that year.36
However, because we find that Woodbury fraudulently understated
its gross receipts on its return, section 6501(c)(1) permits the
IRS to assess at any time. As for taxable year 1999, Woodbury
failed to file a tax return. Section 6501(c)(3) likewise permits
the IRS to assess at any time where no return is filed. As a
36
Woodbury filed its return for 1998 on September 10, 2003.
The general three-year period of limitations on assessment
expired on September 10, 2006.
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result, we conclude that the statute of limitations does not bar
assessment of Woodbury’s tax for 1998 or 1999.
V. Summary of Findings
To resolve the issues presented in this case, we find as
follows with respect to Mr. Enayat:
(1) He received unreported gambling income of $16,800 in
1998, which he concedes.
(2) He received unreported rental income of $2,000 in 1998,
which he concedes.
(3) He received unreported constructive dividends from
Woodbury totaling $203,273 in 1998.
(4) He received unreported compensation from Woodbury
totaling $349,356 in 1998.
(5) He did not receive unreported income during any year in
issue from the funds Dr. Willitts transferred to him in
1998.
(6) He is not entitled to a capital loss of $118,619 (or
any other amount) on the 1998 sale of the Elm Street
house, and accordingly, the capital gains he offset in
1998 and 1999 are taxable; but he is not liable for tax
on capital gain from that sale.
(7) He received unreported constructive dividends from
Woodbury of $31,723 in 1999.
(8) He received unreported compensation from Woodbury of
$67,200 in 1999.
(9) He received unreported Schedule C income from Sutter of
$1,228 in 1999.
(10) He received unreported income from insurance proceeds
of $201,929 in 2000, which he concedes.
(11) He received unreported Schedule C income from Sutter of
$252,721 in 2000.
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(12) He received unreported theft income of $113,800 from a
stolen check in 2001, which he concedes.
(13) He is liable for failure-to-file additions to tax under
section 6651(a)(1) for taxable years 1998, 1999, 2000,
and 2001.
(14) He is liable for the fraud penalty under section
6663(a) on the portion of his underpayment attributable
to the following items:
1998: $16,800 in gambling income and $2,000 in
rental income;
2000: $201,929 in insurance proceeds and $252,721
in gross receipts from Sutter;
2001: $113,800 in theft income from the stolen
check.
(15) He is not liable for the fraud penalty on the portion
of his underpayments attributable to the following
items:
1998: $203,273 in constructive dividends from
Woodbury;
$349,356 in compensation from Woodbury; and
$118,619 in disallowed capital loss from the
sale of the Elm Street house;
1999: $31,723 in constructive dividends from
Woodbury;
$67,200 in compensation from Woodbury; and
$1,228 in additional gross receipts from
Sutter.
As for Woodbury, we find as follows:
(1) Woodbury had no taxable income in 1998 and therefore is
not liable for tax, additions to tax, or penalties in
that year.
(2) Woodbury had unreported net taxable income of $94,850
in 1999.
(3) Woodbury is liable for the fraudulent failure-to-file
addition to tax under section 6651(f) for 1999.
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To reflect the foregoing and to allow the parties to resolve
the computational issues that will be affected by these findings,
Decisions will be entered
under Rule 155.