- 19 - liability for civil fraud with respect to 1987. Gray v. Commissioner, 708 F.2d 243, 246 (6th Cir. 1983), affg. T.C. Memo. 1981-1. Next, we consider whether respondent established that petitioner committed fraud for his 1984, 1985, and 1986 taxable years. Viewing the record as a whole, we are satisfied that respondent has met her burden of proving fraud. Among other things, we note that petitioner: (1) Intentionally understated his income, (2) did not keep books for either his rental or insurance business, (3) failed to segregate his other income and expenses from the income and expenses of his insurance agency and rental activities, and (4) engaged in conduct which clearly indicates his attempt to conceal income by instructing his tenants to lie to the Internal Revenue Service about the rent they paid to him.4 Petitioner had a 4-year pattern of underreporting his gross income; petitioner admits that he received commission checks for insurance commissions but did not report these amounts unless the insurance companies reported the amounts on Forms 1099; and petitioner admits that he received and failed to report rental income from his tenants at 1739 Swift. On loan applications, he disclosed to financial institutions 4 In the stipulation of facts, the parties agreed that the Wilsons would testify that petitioner instructed the Wilsons to lie to the Internal Revenue Service about the amount of rent they paid. At trial, petitioner testified that he never instructed the Wilsons to lie. We do not find petitioner's testimony credible.Page: Previous 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Next
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