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The only evidence offered at trial by petitioner was the
canceled check and the testimony of Olbres. Olbres testified
that she never had any discussions with Coupounas as to how he
would charge petitioner for accounting and legal services. She
acknowledged that it was not petitioner’s standard business
practice to retain service providers or suppliers without knowing
what they were going to charge. She attempted to explain her
reliance on Coupounas by reference to his history of preparation
of tax returns for her parents and for her. Coupounas declined
to cooperate with petitioner’s counsel, and there are no
documents in the record reflecting services allegedly performed
by Coupounas for petitioner other than the tax return prepared by
him.
We are not persuaded that economic performance with respect
to the professional fees claimed had occurred during the year in
issue. Coupounas never submitted an invoice to petitioner,
unlike other suppliers with whom petitioner did business. Based
on the testimony and lack of contemporaneous documentation, we
conclude that the amount of the professional fees for services
allegedly rendered by Coupounas could not have been determined
with reasonable accuracy by the end of 1994. Olbres also
testified that, at the time she signed the return, she was not
aware that more than $65,000 in professional fees expense was
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