Eleazar C. Flores, Jr. - Page 8




                                        - 8 -                                          

          merely transporting Abel's money to Mercedes and that no portion             
          thereof belonged to petitioner.  Thus, our primary task herein is            
          to distill truth from falsehood. See Diaz v. Commissioner, 58 T.C.           
          560, 564 (1972).  In doing so, we are aware that we must be careful          
          “to avoid making the courtroom a haven for the skillful liar”.  Id.          
          Accordingly, we look for objective facts to corroborate                      
          petitioner's account.                                                        
               There are no such facts in the record supporting petitioner's           
          testimony.  We do not find petitioner's story to be credible.  We            
          believe that petitioner’s story is but an attempt by petitioner to           
          disguise his duplicity in a questionable transaction from which he           
          derived his ownership interest in the currency, and that he signed           
          the waiver disclaiming such interest in order to avoid inquiry and           
          possible prosecution by local authorities.  Other than himself,              
          petitioner failed to present any witness or other evidence                   
          corroborating his testimony.  Suffice it to say, we are satisfied            
          that the $99,880 was his; thus, he is required to include the                
          $99,880 in his gross income.  Accordingly, we sustain respondent's           
          determination that petitioner received $99,880 in unreported income          
          in 1993.                                                                     
          Issue 2:  Section 6662(a) Accuracy-Related Penalty                           
               Section 6662(a) imposes a penalty equal to 20 percent of the            
          amount of the underpayment attributable to negligence or disregard           
          of rules or regulations, or to a substantial understatement of               





Page:  Previous  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  Next

Last modified: May 25, 2011