- 12 - belief that he was not obligated to pay tax. Petitioner, based on his belief, failed to file his 1986 and later years' returns. It was only after his bank account was seized in 1989 in connection with the audit of his 1985 tax return that petitioner closed his bank account. By 1989, petitioner had failed to file several Federal income tax returns. Petitioner believed that he had correctly reported his income and deductions for 1985 by using a professional return preparer (accountant). Petitioner, who is not well educated or versed in business and tax matters, represented himself in the 1985 audit. From his perspective he had properly filed his 1985 return, and the resulting seizure of his bank account caused him to react by closing the bank account. There is no indication that the 1989 audit of petitioner's 1985 return involved the so-called protester arguments or that he failed to cooperate with respondent's agent. Petitioner did not cooperate with the revenue agent in the determination of his tax liability for 1986 through 1991. On occasion, this has been found to be an indicium of fraud. See Rowlee v. Commissioner, 80 T.C. at 1125; Grosshandler v. Commissioner, 75 T.C. 1, 20 (1980); Gajewski v. Commissioner, 67 T.C. 181, 200 (1976), affd. without published opinion 578 F.2d 1383 (8th Cir. 1978). Here, however, petitioner did not attempt to deceive or mislead the revenue agent. Instead, hePage: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Next
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