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determination of negligence or intentional disregard of rules or
regulations is presumptively correct with the burden of proof to
the contrary on petitioner. See Neely v. Commissioner, supra.
Petitioner bears the burden of proving that respondent's
determinations are erroneous. See Rule 142(a); Luman v.
Commissioner, 79 T.C. 846, 860-861 (1982).
Petitioner claimed numerous deductions, which, for the most
part, were contrary to the regulations or were without
substantiation. Furthermore, petitioner's story of why he has no
records or other documentation to substantiate the claimed
deductions is not credible.
For instance, petitioner testified that he was preparing his
tax returns while at work for the State of California Board of
Equalization, and the records substantiating his medical and job-
search expenses were in his briefcase that was confiscated when
he was terminated from employment. To the extent that any
medical and job-search expenses may have been incurred, they
would have been incurred after May, and the records would not
have existed at the time the briefcase was confiscated.
Furthermore, even if other records had been in the briefcase,
they were not permanently unavailable to petitioner as he
testified that the briefcase was later returned to him.
Finally, we question petitioner's story that he was preparing his
tax returns for 1995 in May of that year.
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