Guido Ruggiero and Kristin Ruggiero - Page 14

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          petitioners argue that amounts paid to petitioner by UConn are              
          not wages insofar as they reflect a return of fellowship proceeds           
          previously remitted by petitioner.                                          
               Petitioners also argue that the fellowship proceeds which              
          petitioner received in the amount of $33,500 are fully taxable;             
          however, citing our opinion in Spiegelman v. Commissioner, 102              
          T.C. 394 (1994), petitioners contend that the fellowship proceeds           
          constitute neither wages nor earnings from self-employment.                 
               Respondent determined that petitioner's wage income for the            
          taxable year 1991 totaled $53,009, the amount reflected on the              
          Form W-2 issued by UConn.  Respondent maintains that petitioner             
          remitted all of the fellowship proceeds to UConn and,                       
          consequently, argues that petitioners are neither required to               
          include the fellowship proceeds as income nor entitled to offset            
          the proceeds remitted to UConn from wages received from UConn.9             
               It is clear that the various positions taken by petitioners,           
          both on their amended return and at trial, were fashioned in an             
          attempt to reduce their liability under the alternative minimum             
          tax provisions.  Petitioners' contentions that the fellowship               
          proceeds were fully taxable as noncompensatory income, and that             
          the remitted proceeds could offset gross wages paid by UConn, are           
          an attempt to buttress their argument, discussed infra, that                

               9  Respondent assumes a factual premise which is contrary to           
          the stipulated facts and evidence in the record.  Therefore, we             
          shall disregard respondent's argument insofar as it relates to              
          the portion of the fellowship proceeds that was not remitted to             
          UConn.                                                                      


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