- 11 - a. Petitioner's Sophistication and Experience Dr. Kalo was an educated person. Additionally, he was familiar with the tax law and had a better than average knowledge of foreign investments. Petitioner's knowledge in this area is sufficient that we believe petitioner knew enough to, at a minimum, ask for tax advice regarding foreign interest. We find that Dr. Kalo did not inform his accountant or his financial advisor of his foreign bank accounts and that this failure to inform, from a taxpayer with petitioner's sophistication, indicates fraud. b. Consistent and Substantial Understatements of Income The mere failure to report income is not sufficient to establish fraud. Merritt v. Commissioner, 301 F.2d 484, 487 (5th Cir. 1962), affg. T.C. Memo. 1959-172; Parks v. Commissioner, supra at 664. However, consistent and substantial understatement of income may be strong evidence of fraud. Marcus v. Commissioner, 70 T.C. 562, 577 (1978), affd. without published opinion 621 F.2d 439 (5th Cir. 1980). Moreover, a pattern of consistent underreporting of income, when accompanied by other circumstances indicating an intent to conceal income, justifies an inference of fraud. Holland v. United States, 348 U.S. 121, 137 (1954). Petitioners argue that during the years in issue they reported and paid, on their original income tax returns, over 94 percent of their tax liability and that this indicatesPage: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011