- 12 - to overcome the statutory presumption that he signed the consent.3 Circumstantial evidence reinforces our finding that petitioner executed the consent. Petitioner first asserted in 1995, some 12 years after it was signed, that his signature on the consent was forged. During that 12-year period, he hired four sets of professional advisers to deal with the IRS’s examination of his income tax liabilities. We do not believe that, during the 12 years that followed the explicit waiver of the period of limitations, none of petitioner’s professional advisers consulted with him concerning the validity of that waiver. We believe, rather, that they did so, and that they learned from petitioner that he had signed the consent. Had petitioner told them otherwise, they would have sought to terminate respondent’s proceedings against petitioner for 1980 3 The Court permitted petitioner to proffer additional testimony of Ms. Marsh as to the facts and reasons for her conclusion. In the proffer, she asserted specific concerns about the signature appearing on the consent. Specifically, she noted characteristics of the loop on the “L” of petitioner’s first name, the angle of the bottom of the “S” in petitioner’s middle initial, and the absence of a loop at the end of the “short” version of petitioner’s signature. These concerns, even if properly presented, would not have changed our conclusion. The Court’s own examination of the exemplars indicates that the presence or absence of the questioned characteristics was not confined to the signature on the consent. The Court's examination of the evidence reinforces its decision to accept the conclusion of respondent’s expert--that is, that the evidence of record does not permit a finding that petitioner did not sign the consent.Page: Previous 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011