Howard and Linda Levine - Page 9




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          relating to his bookkeeping and tax return services.  Petitioner’s          
          vague allegations regarding overreported Form 1099 income are not           
          credible.  Among other things, petitioner did not identify                  
          specifically which Forms 1099 reflected overstatements of income,           
          and petitioner did not indicate any specific amounts of alleged             
          overstatements.                                                             
               Petitioner’s training and work as a bookkeeper and tax return          
          preparer, his failure to keep records of his bookkeeping and                
          personal tax return preparation activities, his misstatements to            
          respondent’s representatives, his pattern of filing petitioners’            
          income tax returns late, only after contact by respondent, and of           
          reporting thereon only Form 1099 income, not income from his                
          personal bookkeeping and tax preparation activities, taken together         
          indicate strongly and establish that petitioner fraudulently filed          
          the 1990, 1991, and 1992 joint Federal income tax returns.                  
               Petitioner argues that respondent has not satisfied his burden         
          of proving fraud by clear and convincing evidence.  Rule 142(b).            
          Certainly, some questions remain.  Better documentation and more            
          effort could have been expended by respondent’s representatives to          
          rebut petitioner’s contention that the Form 1099 income was                 
          overstated.  We believe, however, and conclude that petitioner’s            
          fraud has been proven in a clear and convincing manner.                     










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