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a person to whom he has transferred money, unless the taxpayer
previously designated that the money transferred was to be used
for charitable purposes. See Herring v. Commissioner, supra;
Miller v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1982-491; Wilson v.
Commissioner, a Memorandum Opinion of this Court dated Feb. 21,
1952 (taxpayer not allowed to deduct the contributions of his
mother to whom he had given money).
In this case, before the issuance of the notice of
deficiency, petitioner supplied respondent with canceled checks
made out to charitable organizations and a statement of
contributions from the East Palo Alto Seventh-Day Adventist
Church. The canceled checks were signed by petitioner's mother
(described by petitioner as "custodian of the family assets"),
and the statement of contributions listed her as the contributor.
While the evidence was sufficient to substantiate that
petitioner's mother made charitable contributions,4 it did not
substantiate that petitioner made any charitable contributions
for the year.
We find respondent's position on this issue to have been
reasonable in fact and law.
4 We note from the copy of petitioner's mother's 1993
Federal income tax return in the record that she claimed the
standard deduction. Apparently the standard deduction is larger
than the total itemized deductions, including charitable
contributions, to which she would be entitled.
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