Bert LaRue and Michelle Nolen - Page 5




                                        - 4 -                                         

          1997      1998      1999                                                    
          Charitable contributions       $ 2,639    $3,525    $3,941                  
          Unreimbursed employee expenses                                              
          (before the sec. 67(a)                                                      
          limitation)                    12,923     9,063     8,221                   

               Petitioners agreed at trial that their actual charitable               
          contributions were far less than the amounts claimed on the                 
          returns.  They provided documentation of $250 for 1998                      
          contributions, $435 for 1999, and no proof of any contributions             
          during 1997.2  The unreimbursed employee expenses were all                  
          related to petitioner's employment.  Petitioner readily admitted            
          that the amounts above were far in excess of what he actually               
          expended.  For example, the $12,923 shown above for 1997 was                
          related to petitioner's construction work, for which he earned              
          $20,249 in wages that year.  Thus, the amount claimed for                   
          unreimbursed employee expenses for that year represents                     
          approximately 64 percent of the wages earned in connection with             
          that employment.  Petitioner agreed that he would not, in the               
          real world, accept employment where unreimbursed employee                   
          expenses would be of such magnitude.                                        




               2    The Court notes that, as stated earlier, petitioners              
          conceded the deficiencies in the stipulation, and any amounts               
          substantiated at trial would be less than the standard deduction;           
          consequently, there are no grounds for disregarding the                     
          stipulation as in Jasionowski v. Commissioner, 66 T.C. 312                  
          (1976).                                                                     




Page:  Previous  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  Next

Last modified: May 25, 2011