James C. Estrada - Page 7

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          shows that petitioner administered the anesthesia and received              
          the compensation for his services.  We find that the trust was              
          not a separate taxpaying entity for three primary reasons:                  
          (1) Petitioner, not the trust, controlled the earning of the                
          compensation at issue, (2) petitioner controlled the CRNA Trust             
          bank account, and (3) petitioner treated 50 percent of the money            
          paid to NAA as his own.                                                     
               First, we find that petitioner clearly controlled the                  
          compensation in question.  Dr. Voloshin and Oania testified that            
          petitioner and Oania performed anesthetic services for which they           
          were compensated.  Oania and petitioner were the only people who            
          performed services for NAA.                                                 
               In addition, petitioner clearly had control over the CRNA              
          Trust bank account and partial control over the NAA bank account.           
          A person may be treated as the owner of an account if he or she             
          can derive readily realizable economic value from the account,              
          and a person derives such value when "he or she has the freedom             
          to dispose of the account funds at will."  Chu v. Commissioner,             
          T.C. Memo. 1996-549.  Oania, petitioner's partner, testified that           
          he and petitioner split the profits of NAA equally, and that                
          petitioner sometimes deposited checks issued by NIS into the NAA            
          bank account.  Canceled checks from the NAA bank account show               
          petitioner as the signatory.  Petitioner was also authorized to             
          sign checks drawn on the CRNA Trust bank account.                           






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