- 57 - account and the Ameritrust account were frequently dishonored due to insufficient funds. This would have caused a reasonable person to believe that Raymond's activities were losing money. It is unlikely that an examination of the statements would have alerted Barbara that any income was omitted. Although we recognize that there may have been a disparity between the family's total expenditures and their reported income for the years 1991 and 1992, this does not necessarily indicate that Barbara should have known of the omitted income. The record clearly shows that the omitted funds were used primarily to purchase Raymond's memorabilia. The relatively small amount used to help support the family was spent primarily for groceries, house payments, bills, and other minor living expenses. Moreover, petitioners borrowed against their credit cards to pay the expenses. These expenditures were in the nature of ordinary support and would not normally give a spouse reason to know of omitted income. See Mysse v. Commissioner, 57 T.C. 680, 698-699 (1972). There is no evidence of any lavish or extraordinary expenditures which would have put Barbara on notice of unreported income. Cf. Estate of Jackson v. Commissioner, 72 T.C. 356, 361 (1979); Mysse v. Commissioner, supra. We conclude, from our examination of the evidence presented, that there was no reason for Barbara to have known that there was income from Raymond's sports memorabilia activity that was notPage: Previous 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 Next
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