- 17 - they forgave a $23,000 debt, which John owed them, but presented no trustworthy evidence of this indebtedness. We do not believe that petitioners paid the commission, and we therefore disallow the inclusion of this amount in petitioners' Crow Canyon basis. c. Lost Escrow Deposit While respondent included in the basis of Crow Canyon $5,000 of earnest money, which was deposited in escrow and then used to purchase the property on December 18, 1986, petitioners assert that they are entitled to an additional $5,000. Petitioners contend that they fumbled an earlier attempt to purchase Crow Canyon and, consequently, on that deal they lost their $5,000 of earnest money, also held in escrow. They now seek to add this allegedly lost escrow deposit to their basis in Crow Canyon. While we believe that petitioners previously deposited $5,000 into escrow and that this deposit was earnest money for an earlier agreement, we are unpersuaded that petitioners lost the money. There is no document in evidence that describes the final disposition of the escrow account. The documents submitted merely evidence an ongoing negotiation--signed by one party orPage: Previous 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Next
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