-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.Page: 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