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We cannot determine from the foregoing whether Betsy
received a constructive dividend on account of the $2,166 payment
by check Nos. 2043 and 2051. Respondent has failed to carry the
burden of proving that constructive dividend by clear and
convincing evidence.
We hold for petitioner on this issue.
Lake Tahoe
Markette paid for $630 of airfare to Reno--$420 round-trip
for Betsy and $210 Reno-to-Washington, D.C., for petitioner. See
Findings Check No. 2108--Lake Tahoe, supra. Betsy testified as
follows regarding this trip:
Q [McDougal] So this trip would be purely personal.
A [Betsy] Well, we went out there and I guess it was
basically personal. We were there by ourselves. We
probably took sometime to talk about what was going on with
the business.
Betsy flew to Reno on August 7, 1985. The record does not
indicate when petitioner went there, or how his flight there was
paid for. Betsy and petitioner flew back on August 11, 1985. As
we noted in analyzing the 1983 Lake Tahoe trip, Betsy testified
that the primary purpose of the family’s usual midsummer Lake
Tahoe trips was pleasure. We have found that the 1985 Lake Tahoe
trip, almost precisely in the middle of the summer, also was
taken primarily for pleasure.
Respondent has shown by clear and convincing evidence that
petitioner’s and Betsy’s Lake Tahoe trip was for personal
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