- 152 -
211. Although no single factor is necessarily sufficient to
establish fraud, the existence of several indicia constitutes
persuasive circumstantial evidence of fraud. Bradford v. Commis-
sioner, supra at 307; Petzoldt v. Commissioner, supra at 700.
In support of respondent’s position that petitioner intended
to evade tax for each of the years at issue, which he believed to
be owing, by conduct intended to conceal, mislead, or otherwise
prevent the collection of such tax, respondent relies on the
following factors: Petitioner’s consistent and substantial
understatement of income for the years at issue; petitioner’s
failure to maintain adequate books and records; petitioner’s
failure to cooperate with respondent’s agents during the examina-
tion of the years at issue, including his lack of credibility in
certain of his dealings with those agents.
Although we agree with respondent that the factors on which
respondent relies to prove fraudulent intent are present in the
instant case, based on our examination of the entire record
before us, we find that petitioner’s actions raise only a suspi-
cion, albeit a strong suspicion, of fraud for each of those
years. See Toussaint v. Commissioner, supra at 312; Petzoldt v.
Commissioner, supra at 700. We are not persuaded by clear and
convincing evidence that petitioner’s actions of substantially
underreporting his income for each of the years at issue and
failing to maintain adequate books and records for each of those
years were attributable to his fraudulent intent to evade tax
when he filed the joint return for each such year, as opposed to
his negligence and his disregard of tax rules and regulations.
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