- 16 - review the tax returns before signing them. Further, all of the account statements were handled by Thomas Dillon at Dillon Securities. We find that the record supports petitioner's con- tention that she lacked actual knowledge of this account. Further, we refuse to impute constructive knowledge of this account to petitioner. Respondent has cited a number of cases wherein a taxpayer either had reason to know about a substantial understatement or had sufficient knowledge such that the taxpayer was put on notice that an understatement existed. See Hayman v. Commissioner, 992 F.2d 1256 (2d Cir. 1993), affg. T.C. Memo. 1992-228; Stevens v. Commissioner, 872 F.2d 1499 (11th Cir. 1989), affg. T.C. Memo. 1988-63; Zimmerman v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1996-223; Kenney v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1995-431. These cases are all distinguishable from the case at bar. The taxpayers in Hayman and Stevens, supra, were charged with constructive knowledge of deductions listed in their tax returns. However, in those cases, even a cursory review of the return would have revealed the existence of substantial deductions. Here, the understatement results from the omission of a rela- tively small amount of investment income. Petitioner, given her limited knowledge and lack of education, would not have noticed anything amiss by simply reviewing the return. Kenney v. Commissioner, supra, and Zimmerman v. Commis- sioner, supra, involved situations where income had been omittedPage: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Next
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