Joseph A. and Carol DelVecchio - Page 14




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                    2.  Consistent and Substantial Understatements of                 
                    Income                                                            
               On the Forms 1040X, petitioners reported increased net                 
          profit from Monterey of $80,214 and $54,778 for 1987 and 1988,              
          respectively.  The amended Schedules C show that, originally,               
          petitioners underreported Monterey’s gross sales by $540,266 and            
          $393,980 for 1987 and 1988, respectively.  Those are large                  
          amounts compared to the amounts originally reported.  A                     
          consistent pattern of underreporting large amounts of income is             
          evidence of fraud.  See Holland v. United States, 348 U.S. 121,             
          137 (1954).   Two years of substantial understatement may support           
          a finding of fraud.  See Kelley v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1991-           
          324 (1991), affd. 988 F.2d 1218 (11th Cir. 1993).                           
                    3.  Control of Books and Records                                  
               Joseph prepared the Schedules C, on which Monterey’s income            
          was understated.  Monterey’s system of bookkeeping centered                 
          around the peg board, in which was recorded all checks written              
          with respect to Monterey’s business and all deposits of moneys              
          received with respect to that business.  Together with the vendor           
          ledger cards, sales invoices, and bank statements, the peg board            
          provided sufficient information to prepare accurately the                   
          Schedules C.  Entries on adding machine tapes used by Joseph to             
          prepare the Schedule C for 1988 convince us that Joseph did use             
          the peg board to prepare the Schedule C for 1988.  Also, Joseph             
          testified that he looked at statements for Monterey’s bank                  





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