- 41 -
In Bokum v. Commissioner, 94 T.C. 126 (1990), affd. on
another ground 999 F.2d 1132 (11th Cir. 1993), we held that “the
taxpayer claiming innocent spouse status must establish that he
or she is unaware of the circumstances that give rise to error on
the tax return and not merely to be unaware of the tax
consequences”. Id. at 145-146 (citing Purcell v. Commissioner,
86 T.C. 228, 238 (1986), affd. 826 F.2d 470 (6th Cir. 1987)). In
Bokum v. Commissioner, supra at 146, we held that a putative
innocent spouse’s knowledge of the relevant underlying
transaction incident to the grossly erroneous deduction and the
appearance of a large, unexplained deduction on the face of the
income tax return, id. at 148, are both independently sufficient
to cause the putative innocent spouse either to have a reason to
know of the substantial understatement of tax incident to a
grossly erroneous deduction or to impose upon her a duty to
inquire.
17(...continued)
At trial, Mr. Heitzman explained his state of mind:
you put all that together, and it was pretty * * *
devastating. And so, you know, I felt my world has
fallen apart. I was bitter because of the marriage
that didn’t work. I’m sorry. * * * I take full
responsibility * * * [for] the letter I wrote * * *
[which] doesn’t reflect the facts * * * when I now can
look at it later.
Based upon Mr. Heitzman’s testimony at trial and the
evidence in the record directly contradicting allegations in the
letter, we give the letter no credence.
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