- 13 - (2) the spouse's involvement in the family's business and financial affairs; (3) the presence of expenditures that appear lavish or unusual when compared to the family's past income levels, income standards, and spending patterns; and (4) the culpable spouses's evasiveness and deceit concerning the couple's finances. See Kistner v. Commissioner, supra at 1524. As to the first factor, level of education, petitioner earned a college degree in medical records administration from St. Louis University. She also owned and operated her own construction business (JCB) that was, like the corporation in which her husband was a shareholder (BGE), an S corporation. Petitioner was primarily responsible for JCB's day-to-day affairs. She collected the information with which to file tax returns for JCB and signed those tax returns. Consequently, we believe that she must have been familiar with the manner in which income of an S corporation flows through to the individual shareholders for Federal tax purposes. Although petitioner testified that she had nothing to do with petitioner's husband's nursery business during its existence, she admitted that she was the secretary-treasurer of Sweetwater Greenery, Inc. (the bankrupt predecessor company of BGE and the initial S corporation operating the foliage nursery). By 1992, petitioner had considerable experience in business and financial matters. At a minimum, given her experience in the family's financial affairs,Page: Previous 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Next
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