- 27 -
tions claimed by petitioners, deductions are strictly a matter of
legislative grace, and petitioners bear the burden of proving
that they are entitled to any deductions claimed. INDOPCO, Inc.
v. Commissioner, 503 U.S. 79, 84 (1992).
The Court’s Evaluation of Evidence in
the Record on Which Petitioners Rely
Petitioners rely on certain testimonial and documentary
evidence to support their positions with respect to the various
issues in this case.
Testimonial Evidence
At trial, petitioners called themselves, Mr. Smith, and
Essie Whitehead as witnesses. With respect to the testimony of
petitioners, based on our observation of each petitioner at
trial, including our observation of each petitioner’s demeanor,
we did not find either of them to be credible. We also found Mr.
Whitehead’s testimony to be conclusory and/or uncorroborated by
reliable evidence in certain material respects. While we found
Ms. Whitehead’s testimony to be specific in certain respects, we
found her testimony about certain material matters to be general,
vague, and/or conclusory.
With respect to Mr. Smith’s testimony,20 based on our obser-
20Although petitioners do not explicitly rely on brief on
the testimony of Mr. Smith, the individual who prepared petition-
ers’ joint returns for the years at issue, at trial they relied
on his testimony to support their respective positions with
respect to certain of the issues in this case.
Page: Previous 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 NextLast modified: May 25, 2011