Vincent Ekeh - Page 9




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          one of which is negligence or disregard of rules or regulations.            
          See sec. 6662(b)(1).  “Negligence” includes any failure to make a           
          reasonable attempt to comply with the provisions of the Internal            
          Revenue Code, including any failure to keep adequate books and              
          records or to substantiate items properly.  See sec. 6662(c);               
          sec. 1.6662-3(b)(1), Income Tax Regs.  Section 6664(c)(1)                   
          provides that the penalty under section 6662(a) shall not apply             
          to any portion of an underpayment if it is shown that there was             
          reasonable cause for the taxpayer’s position and that the                   
          taxpayer acted in good faith with respect to that portion.  The             
          determination of whether a taxpayer acted with reasonable cause             
          and in good faith is made on a case-by-case basis, taking into              
          account all the pertinent facts and circumstances.  See sec.                
          1.6664-4(b)(1), Income Tax Regs.  The most important factor is              
          the extent of the taxpayer’s effort to assess his proper tax                
          liability for the year.  See id.                                            
               Petitioner’s purported substantiation was meager.  He                  
          presented receipts for various expenses which were not self-                
          evidently employee business expenses and which were not                     
          adequately explained as such at trial.  The receipts appear to              
          have been haphazardly assembled, and those receipts which were              
          dated in the years in issue (with legible dollar amounts) are far           
          from equal the amount of expenses claimed by petitioner on his              
          returns.  Finally, many of the receipts were for travel expenses            






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