Fred and Yvonne Michael - Page 8

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          very difficult for a lumper to determine his status as either an            
          employee or an independent contractor.  Petitioners cite several            
          cases which have addressed this issue, some of which conclude the           
          lumper was an employee, while others conclude the lumper was an             
          independent contractor.  Lanigan Storage & Van Co. v. United                
          States, 389 F.2d 337 (6th Cir. 1968); McGuire v. United States,             
          349 F.2d 644 (9th Cir. 1965); Service Trucking Co. v. United                
          States, 347 F.2d 671 (4th Cir. 1965); R & H Corp. v. United                 
          States, 255 F. Supp. 870 (W.D. Pa. 1966).  Petitioners' argument            
          is not persuasive.  Petitioners were put on notice of a possible            
          problem with petitioner's status as an employee because peti-               
          tioner never received a Form W-2 from any of the persons or                 
          entities he worked for.  Petitioners included with each of their            
          1981 and 1982 income tax returns a temporary handwritten Form W-2           
          which petitioner prepared himself.  Petitioners give no indica-             
          tion that they investigated why no Form W-2 was issued to                   
          petitioner or whether the amounts they claimed as withholdings              
          were in fact withheld.  The record contains no evidence that                
          petitioner, given a good faith effort, would not have been able             
          to correctly file as an independent contractor.  Indeed, there is           
          no probative evidence regarding the principal's control over the            
          details of his work, or in regard to any other factor commonly              
          taken into account to distinguish an employee from an independent           
          contractor.  See, e.g., Walker v. Commissioner, 101 T.C. 537, 542           
          (1993).  Thus, petitioner did not show that his failure to pay              




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