- 4 -
as having made a prima facie showing as to the deemed facts.
Estate of Spear v. Commissioner, 41 F.3d at 117.
The Court of Appeals said:
there are many other places in the opinion that make it
appear that the tax court found sufficient evidence of
net worth and of fraud without relying on the deemed
facts. Nonetheless, because we are unsure whether the
court relied on these facts and shifted the burden of
proof, and because the consequences to the taxpayers
are so significant, we must assume that the court did
rely on these facts. We will thus treat the sanction
as one that essentially shifted the burden of proof
(and production) on net worth and on fraud.
Id. at 108-109.
The Court of Appeals limited its discussion of the record
mainly to the facts bearing on the sanctions issue. Estate of
Spear v. Commissioner, 41 F.3d at 105. The Court also said:
The [tax] court may, of course, elect to retry the
case. In that event, it might be well advised to rely
upon Jeanette's videotaped deposition in lieu of her
testimony, although perhaps her emotional state is now
better. On the other hand, the court may simply prefer
to decide the case on the basis of the existing record,
but absent the "deeming" and its consequences which we
have declared invalid.
Id. at 117.
The Court of Appeals also said with respect to petitioner's
videotaped deposition that "it is difficult to see how anything
more would be forthcoming at a trial." Id. at 116. We agree.
Neither side has requested further trial. We conclude that
further trial is unnecessary.
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011