- 13 -
lacked any reasonable basis; i.e., was not substantially
justified. See VanderPol v. Commissioner, 91 T.C. at 370. There
was no indication that respondent's evidence was unusually scanty
or unworthy of belief, nor any reason to suspect that respondent
had taken her position for any other purpose other than to
prevail in the litigation. We have stated in the past:
Petitioners point only to the ultimate failure of
respondent's * * * [argument] * * * to show that * * *
[her] position was unreasonable. * * * If a party can
be chastised for such a failure, then every losing
party must be so chastised. Such an interpretation
does not manifest Congress' intention in enacting * * *
[section 7430]. [Id.; citations omitted.]
(3) Disallowed Current Depreciation Deductions
Respondent disallowed depreciation deductions of roughly
$13,000 in both 1989 and 1990, claiming that petitioner failed to
establish the depreciable basis and a method of depreciation for
the Burke property. The Court substantially sustained petitioner
at trial, although we ordered depreciation deductions to be
recalculated in a slightly lower amount. We found that Senter
Associates (Senter), a partnership, incorporated and formed
petitioner, contributing all Senter's assets in a section 351
transaction in which no gain was recognized, and that the basis
of the Burke property was carried over to petitioner from Senter.
Despite our determination in favor of petitioner, we note
that NII provided incomplete documents to establish the
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