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Before the years in issue, petitioner earned approximately
$700 per month from gold mining. During the years in issue,
however, petitioner did not earn any income from mining.5 During
the years in issue, petitioner earned no more than $140 a year,
apart from timber sales, which he received from Merfeld for
refining gold for the coin shop.
OPINION
Issue 1. Value of American Eagle Gold Coins
It is well settled that the Commissioner's determinations
are presumed correct, and the taxpayer bears the burden of
proving that those determinations are erroneous. Rule 142(a);
Welch v. Helvering, 290 U.S. 111, 115 (1933); Durando v. United
States, 70 F.3d 548, 550 (9th Cir. 1995).
At trial, petitioner acknowledged that he insisted on being
paid in gold coins for the timber he sold to C&D. Furthermore,
petitioner conceded that he received the form of payment he
requested.6 Petitioner asserts, however, that for Federal income
5 We accept petitioner's testimony that his mining activity
did not produce income during the years in issue. It consisted
of felling trees, digging, and testing the quality of the mine's
output. In years after the ones in issue, petitioner conceded
that he made money and supported his family from mining.
6 Although petitioner believed that he received 41 gold coins
in 1993, the evidence shows that he actually received 47. For
1994, the record does not indicate how many gold coins petitioner
received in exchange for $1,635 worth of timber sold to C&D.
However, at trial, petitioner conceded that the gold price in
Federal reserve notes is approximately $350 an ounce.
Accordingly, we find that in 1994, petitioner received somewhere
between four and five gold coins in exchange for $1,635 worth of
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