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his rental losses if he elected under section 469(c)(7) to treat
his rental real estate activities as one activity.
C. Whether Petitioner Elected on His 1994 Income Tax Return To
Treat His Rental Real Estate Activities as One Activity
1. Whether Aggregating Net Losses From Schedule E on Line
17 of Form 1040 is an Election Under Section 469(c)(7)
Petitioner contends that the fact that he aggregated his
losses from his rental real estate activities on his tax returns
for 1994 and 1995 shows that he elected under section 469(c)(7)
to treat them as one activity. We disagree.
To make an election, a taxpayer must clearly notify the
Commissioner of the taxpayer’s intent to do so. See Knight-
Ridder Newspapers Inc. v. United States, 743 F.2d 781, 795 (11th
Cir. 1984). To make an election, “the taxpayer must exhibit in
some manner * * * his unequivocal agreement to accept both the
benefits and burdens of the tax treatment afforded” by the
governing statute. Young v. Commissioner, 83 T.C. 831, 839
(1984), affd. 783 F.2d 1201 (5th Cir. 1986). A taxpayer has not
made an election if it is not clear from the return that an
election has been made. See Young v. Commissioner, 783 F.2d at
1206.
The instructions for the 1994 Form 1040 and Schedules A, B,
C, D, E, F, and SE require petitioner to aggregate his rental
real estate losses on line 17 of Form 1040. Thus, the fact that
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