James K. Roberts - Page 5

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          On April 21, 1986, petitioner also deposited a check in the                 
          amount of $3,000 to the North Fork account.  That check is dated            
          April 18, 1986, and was received from "John Ballis Racing                   
          Account".                                                                   
               "A bank deposit is prima facie evidence of income and                  
          respondent need not prove a likely source of that income."                  
          Tokarski v. Commissioner, 87 T.C. 74, 77 (1986).  Petitioner                
          seeks to rebut the presumption of income that arises from the               
          evidence of bank deposits by arguing that the deposits in                   
          question for 1986 were loan repayments or petitioner's own cash:            
          (1) "The $14,700 in deposits to North Fork Bank represents loan             
          repayments or redeposits of * * * [petitioner's] own cash."                 
          (2) "The $3,000 check from the John Baylis [sic] racing account             
          is not unreported income but rather is a repayment of a loan by             
          Mr. Baylis [sic]."                                                          
               Petitioner has failed to persuade us that any of the 1986              
          deposits in question represent either loan repayments or                    
          redeposits.  The only evidence that those deposits represent loan           
          repayments or redeposits is petitioner's testimony to that                  
          effect.  We did not, however, find petitioner to be a reliable              
          witness.  For example, with respect to the $900 deposited to the            
          North Fork account on August 25, 1986, petitioner testified that            
          he could not specifically remember that deposit but that he                 
          assumed that it was a partial repayment of $14,000 that he had              
          lent to one Robert Libutti (Libutti) because "it was deposited              




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