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1.166-8, Income Tax Regs. Whether or not a debt has become
worthless within a particular year is a question of fact, the
burden of proving which rests upon the petitioner. American
Offshore, Inc. v. Commissioner, 97 T.C. 579, 593 (1991).
Petitioner has offered no evidence that the restaurants'
obligation to repay him for amounts paid became worthless in the
years claimed by petitioner. In addition, petitioner's claim
that the obligation to repay him became worthless contradicts his
claim that he received thousands of dollars in loan repayments
from the restaurants during the years at issue. Accordingly,
respondent's denial of the bad debt deduction with respect to
these guaranty payments is sustained.
Issue 5. Dependent
The next issue for our consideration is whether petitioner
was entitled to claim his mother, Edith Beretta, as a dependent
on his 1990 income tax return. Section 151(c)(1)(A) allows a
taxpayer to claim an exemption for each dependent (as defined in
section 152) whose gross income is less than the exemption
amount. Section 152(a)(4) defines the term "dependent" to
include the mother of a taxpayer who receives over one-half of
her support from the taxpayer during the taxable year.
Petitioner bears the burden of showing that he is entitled to
claim his mother as a dependent. Collins v. Commissioner, T.C.
Memo. 1994-409.
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