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Petitioner was fully aware of his obligation to file tax
returns. His only apparent explanation for his delinquency in
filing returns for the years at issue is that he believed that
his Schedule F losses would completely offset his taxable income
for all of those years. This explanation lacks credibility.
Petitioner, although currently unlicensed,11 is an experienced
attorney who studied Federal income taxation in law school. We
find it totally unbelievable that an experienced attorney such as
petitioner who was engaged in several businesses (law practice,
McGee Landscaping, etc.) did not know of his legal duty to file
accurate and timely returns. The fact that petitioner filed only
one timely return during the 1980’s establishes a long pattern of
substantial and consistent underreporting of income.
Petitioner also actively concealed his income by routing
several unusually large fees around his receipt books and
business bank accounts. He also failed to deposit many items
into any account, business or personal. Petitioner contends that
the omissions were accidental and that there was no fraudulent
intent involved. We would be more apt to believe petitioner if
the omissions had a random quality to them. However, this is
simply not the case. The fees that petitioner failed to record
in his business records or deposit in his Business Account were
11 On Jan. 29, 1999, the Alabama Supreme Court suspended
petitioner from the practice of law in the courts of Alabama for
a period of 3 years.
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