- 17 - from the taxpayers' returns. However, even a cursory review of the returns would have revealed a negligible amount of income being reported in comparison to the amount of money received by the taxpayers during the years in question. See Kenney v. Commissioner, supra ("Given the fact that the subject returns reported no taxable income, one need only glance at the bottom line to see that further inquiry was warranted"); Zimmerman v. Commissioner, supra ("The total amount of income reported each year was minuscule compared to the amount of money flowing into * * * [the taxpayers] household account"). Here, in contrast, the $43,158 of omitted income was modest in comparison to the $425,214 of business and interest income that was reported for 1982. Further, the Dillons reported $38,484 of interest income in 1982, significantly more than the $26,172 reported in 1981. As a result, petitioner would not have been put on notice that something was wrong with the return by simply reviewing it. Accordingly, we shall not impute constructive knowledge of this omission to petitioner. See Terzian v. Commissioner, 72 T.C. 1164, 1171 (1979). Therefore we find that petitioner did not have actual or constructive knowledge of the omission. Third, it would be inequitable to hold petitioner liable for the 1982 understatements. Sec. 6013(e)(1)(D); sec. 1.6013-5(b), Income Tax Regs. Section 6013(e) as amended no longer requires us to determine whether a spouse significantly benefited from thePage: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011