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return for 1985, frequent writing of checks to cash, and
maintenance of an upper-middle-class lifestyle, taken together,
prove his specific intent to evade the payment of taxes in the
years in issue. We are not convinced, and we hold to the
contrary.
The only "badge of fraud" found in the record is Mark's
failure to file income tax returns in each of the years 1981 to
1985. Bradford v. Commissioner, 796 F.2d at 307-308. Mark knew
he had the obligation to do so; he had filed petitioners' 1980
joint tax return in 1981. Rowlee v. Commissioner, 80 T.C. at
1125. Mark has argued that his drug abuse was the root cause of
his failure to file, an argument contradicted to some extent by
his filing of the 1980 tax return in 1981, at a time when he
already was heavily abusing drugs. However, the record indicates
that Mark's erratic behavior during 1980 through 1985, created
ever increasing chaos in petitioners' personal lives. Marla
testified that the failure to file their tax returns from 1982 to
1986 was a direct byproduct of that chaos.
In 1989, Mark pleaded guilty to a charge that he willfully
failed to file his tax return in 1985. Sec. 7203. Such a
conviction, without more, does not constitute clear and
convincing evidence of fraud for that year, Beaver v.
Commissioner, 55 T.C. at 93; Kotmair v. Commissioner, 86 T.C.
1253, 1260-1261 (1986); see also McCullough v. Commissioner, T.C.
Memo. 1993-70, although it may be highly persuasive evidence of
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