- 17 - trial, Mr. Vogel, who had been to the Clayton property more than a half of a dozen times, testified that he never saw any horses on the upper, steeply hilled portion of the Clayton property. Petitioner testified that he does not train horses on his premises, nor does he give riding lessons or offer horseback riding facilities. Access to the riding trails from the Clayton property is obstructed by the presence of Mount Diablo; therefore a boarding client who wants to train, ride, or exercise his or her horse must transport the animal to another facility in the area. Furthermore, because petitioner uses the business portion of the Clayton premises solely for breeding and boarding horses he needs less land for such business, than, for example, someone who operates a horse training and horseback riding facility. Finally, we mention in passing that the good faith of a taxpayer is taken into account in determining whether or not property is used by a taxpayer as his residence. Thomas v. Commissioner, 92 T.C. 206, 243 (1989); sec. 1.1034-1(c)(3)(i), Income Tax Regs. In assessing petitioner's credibility we note that we were influenced by the testimony of Mr. Vogel, the revenue agent who was called as witness for respondent. At trial Mr. Vogel testified that petitioner's girlfriend and bookkeeper, Patsy Lyons, spent a substantial amount of time with him reconstructing petitioner's records. Moreover, the agent testified that both she and the petitioner were very cooperative and that he had "complete faith that what she was telling * * *Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Next
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