James M. Rankin and Shirley Rankin - Page 20

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          section 481(a) adjustment.12  Petitioner contends that he made              
          similar agreements with other office managers but is unable to              
          provide copies of them.  Petitioner did not produce any of the              
          office managers as witnesses at trial to corroborate his                    
          testimony.  Petitioners acknowledge that we are not bound to                
          accept petitioner's uncorroborated testimony.  Wood v.                      
          Commissioner, 338 F.2d 602, 605 (9th Cir.), affg. 41 T.C. 593               
          (1964).                                                                     
               The agreement in evidence that was in effect at the relevant           
          times, which pertains to the Vallejo office of petitioner's                 
          business, contains, inter alia, the following provisions:  (1) A            
          pledge of collateral by the office manager, referred to in the              
          agreement as a bail agent, to secure payment to petitioner of               
          losses incurred by the manager; (2) an agreement to share equally           
          the profits of "James Rankin Bail Bonds" between petitioner and             
          the manager; and (3) an agreement that the two "will share the              
          separate reserve for the Vallejo office".  The agreement does not           
          further specify the nature of sharing intended by the parties or            
          the manner in which it is to be effected.  The agreement is                 
          otherwise ambiguously drafted in that it suggests that all                  
          profits made by James Rankin Bail Bonds, which, based upon the              
          Schedules C in petitioners' 1987 and 1988 returns, appears to be            
          a business operation different from the bail bond operation                 

          12   The other agreement was dated Sept. 1, 1988, and concerns              
          the same office as the first agreement.                                     




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