-17-
At trial, petitioners introduced three checks payable to
"cash" totaling $2,285 to support the claimed deduction.8 Two
checks are dated February 1993 and one check is dated March 1993.
Petitioners contend that these checks are sufficient to
substantiate the claimed deduction. We disagree.
A check made payable to "cash" does not, in and of itself,
prove payment of a deductible expense. And, other than their own
self-serving testimony, petitioners offered no evidence in
support of the claimed deduction. See Wood v. Commissioner, 338
F.2d at 605; Niedringhaus v. Commissioner, 99 T.C. at 219-220;
Tokarski v. Commissioner, 87 T.C. at 77; Hradesky v.
Commissioner, 65 T.C. at 90.
Thus, petitioners did not present a single invoice for
either materials or services related to the alleged repair of the
existing shoeshine stand or the construction of the new stand.
Although petitioners claim that their records were destroyed by
fire,9 petitioners failed to explain why the alleged suppliers or
service providers (such as the "architect") were unable to
testify on petitioners' behalf, or why the records of the alleged
suppliers or service providers were unavailable.
8 According to petitioners, the $53 difference between the
amount deducted ($2,338) and the sum of the three checks ($2,285)
represents the cost of transporting the new shoeshine stand to
SeaTac Airport.
9 See supra note 4.
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