J. Leslie James - Page 8




                                        - 8 -                                         
          15, 1997, establish that petitioner mailed his 1993 return on               
          August 31, 1995.  Petitioner contends that the note on his return           
          shows that he believed that the 1993 return that he mailed on               
          April 15, 1997, was a duplicate of a return he filed earlier.  We           
          disagree.  The note on his return simply requests that the return           
          not be duplicated.  The note on Ball's copy suggests that the               
          author of the note believed that Ball's copy had been filed                 
          before April 15, 1997.  However, the record does not show who               
          wrote the note or what that person knew when he or she wrote it.            
          The notes do not establish that petitioner mailed his 1993 return           
          before March 24, 1997.                                                      
               Petitioner contends that he proved with evidence of habit              
          that he mailed his 1993 return before March 24, 1997.  Rule 406             
          of the Federal Rules of Evidence provides that evidence of habit            
          is relevant to prove that the conduct of a person on a particular           
          occasion conforms to that person's habit.  Petitioner testified             
          that his habit was to pick up his income tax return from Ball's             
          office and take it home for his wife to sign.  Petitioner                   
          testified that when he picked up a return "it's in the mail the             
          same day."  He did not say who mailed his income tax returns or             
          where or how they were mailed.2                                             



               2 Petitioner testified that he mailed returns that did not             
          require his wife's signature at a post office in Golden,                    
          Colorado, near his office.                                                  




Page:  Previous  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  Next

Last modified: May 25, 2011