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however, that such payments represented loan repayments and that
the Form 1099 issued by Bankers Mortgage reporting nonemployee
compensation paid to her in that amount was erroneous.
Petitioner made no argument and offered no evidence to refute the
remaining $619 of respondent’s determination.
Generally, the Commissioner’s notice of deficiency is
presumed to be correct, and the taxpayer bears the burden of
proving it is erroneous. Rule 142(a); Welch v. Helvering, 290
U.S. 111 (1933). Due to this presumption of correctness, we
generally do not look behind the notice of deficiency to examine
the evidence upon which the determination was made. Dellacroce
v. Commissioner, 83 T.C. 269, 280 (1984). The Court of Appeals
for the Fourth Circuit, where an appeal in this case would lie,
has held that a taxpayer may overcome the Commissioner’s
presumption of correctness by persuading the court with a
preponderance of the evidence that the Commissioner’s
determination is arbitrary and excessive. Cebollero v.
Commissioner, 967 F.2d 986, 991 (4th Cir. 1992), affg. T.C. Memo.
1990-618. If a taxpayer proves that the Commissioner’s
deficiency determination is arbitrary, then the Commissioner
bears the burden of proving the existence and amount of the
deficiency. Id. at 992. Thus in order to overcome the
presumption of correctness accorded respondent’s determination,
petitioner must show by a preponderance of the evidence that the
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