Dudley Joseph and Myrna Dupuy Callahan - Page 16

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          spent or incurred for the stated purpose.  Williams v. United               
          States, 245 F.2d 559, 560 (5th Cir. 1957); Vanicek v.                       
          Commissioner, 85 T.C. 731, 743 (1985).  Furthermore, in making an           
          estimate, we must bear heavily on petitioner, "whose inexactitude           
          is of his own making."  Cohan v. Commissioner, supra at 544.                
               Petitioners did not submit any evidence or testify to the              
          effect that their house was appraised by a competent                        
          professional, either before or after the damages were sustained.            
          In addition, petitioners were unable to separate the structural             
          damages caused by Tropical Storm Allison from the structural                
          damages caused by the termite infestation.  To substantiate the             
          casualty losses claimed on their returns, petitioners submitted a           
          letter from FEMA, which references their 1989 grant of $5,660,              
          photocopies of checks and receipts, handwritten lists of                    
          expenditures, and a written statement from one James Robinson,              
          dated August 25, 1993, stating that he performed repairs to their           
          house sustained from Tropical Storm Allison.                                
               We consider the letter from FEMA sufficient to substantiate            
          that petitioners sustained damages from Tropical Storm Allison,             
          but only for taxable year 1989 and only in the amount of the                
          grant, $5,660.  Cohan v. Commissioner, supra; sec. 1.165-                   
          7(a)(2)(ii), Income Tax Regs.  The checks and receipts submitted            
          by petitioners, however, are insufficient to substantiate the               
          1989 casualty loss in excess of $5,660.  Many of the checks do              
          not indicate what was purchased or for what purpose the                     




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