- 11 - illegal activities; (8) attempting to conceal illegal activities; (9) dealing in cash; and (10) failing to make estimated tax payments. While no single factor is necessarily sufficient to establish fraud, the existence of several indicia constitutes persuasive circumstantial evidence. See Bradford v. Commissioner, supra at 303. Many of the foregoing badges of fraud are present. Petitioner's substantial understatement of income tax from the omission of the embezzlement income in 1992, 1993, and 1994 is a badge of fraud. As conclusively established in the criminal case, petitioner knew that the funds he received from Mrs. Millyard were not gifts. Petitioners have stipulated that petitioner received embezzlement income. Moreover, petitioners stipulated that they did not report this embezzlement income on their tax returns. Petitioner understated his income in the years in issue by 36 percent, 24 percent, and 60 percent, respectively. Such a pattern of substantial discrepancies between petitioner's actual income and reported income constitutes evidence of intent to defraud. See Kohrs v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1985-115. Failure to keep records is another badge of fraud. See Truesdell v. Commissioner, 89 T.C. 1280, 1302 (1987). Petitioner did not keep any records of the amounts he embezzled.Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011