- 20 - instruments favors respondent. See Calumet Ind. v. Commissioner, 95 T.C. 257, 274 (1990). Fourth, no terms were provided for repayment, and the sole promissory note in evidence does not provide for an interest rate or interest payments. HPD made repayments depending upon its cash position and liquidity; however, the repayments never kept up with the advances. “If the expectation of repayment depends solely on the success of the borrower’s business, the transaction has the appearance of a capital contribution.” Roth Steel Tube Co. v. Commissioner, 800 F.2d 625, 631 (6th Cir. 1986), affg. T.C. Memo. 1985-58. Moreover, petitioner testified that he would not enforce repayment of the advances, but instead HPD only had to repay the advances when it could. Petitioners’ failure to demand repayment and their continued lending of additional funds tend to refute the existence of a valid debtor-creditor relationship. See, e.g., Boatner v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1997-379, affd. without published opinion 164 F.3d 629 (9th Cir. 1998). Petitioners seek to find comfort in the fact that a portion of their advances was recorded as loans on the corporation’s books and records. However, we are not convinced that this fact entitled petitioners to enforce payment of principal or interest. Rather, we believe the recordation was merely a bookkeeping entry of little value without the support of other objective criteria. See Dixie Dairies Corp. v. Commissioner, 74 T.C. at 495. Finally, petitioners admit that HPD did not give any securityPage: 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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