- 28 -
Indus. Co. v. Commissioner, supra at 503. The best method is not
necessarily the one that produces the most tax in a particular
year. Id.
Respondent's final argument is that if petitioner is to
establish that respondent has abused her discretion, petitioner
must demonstrate substantially identical results between
petitioner's method and the method selected by respondent. We
disagree. We have found that petitioner does not have any
inventories. Respondent's contention that we must apply the
substantial-identity-of-results test17 in cases where the
taxpayer is not required to maintain an inventory is without
support in the case law. Ansley-Sheppard-Burgess Co. v.
17 The substantial-identity-of-results test is a judicial
creation; the test was first articulated in Wilkinson-Beane, Inc.
v. Commissioner, 420 F.2d 352 (1st Cir. 1970). In that case, a
cash-method taxpayer who was required to maintain an inventory
and thus report income on the accrual basis argued that the
difference in income determined by the method it used and the
method selected by the Commissioner was negligible. The court
found that where the Commissioner has determined that the
accounting method used by a taxpayer does not clearly reflect
income, in order to prevail, "the taxpayer must demonstrate
substantial identity of results between his method and the method
selected by the Commissioner." Id. at 356.
In Ansley-Sheppard-Burgess Co. v. Commissioner, 104 T.C.
367, 377 (1995), we held that a taxpayer that is required to use
the inventory method of accounting must meet the substantial-
identity-of-results test in order to show that the Commissioner's
determination requiring it to change from the cash method to the
accrual method of accounting was an abuse of discretion.
However, respondent's contention that we must apply the
substantial-identity-of-results test in cases where the taxpayer
is not required to use an inventory is without support in case
law. Id.
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