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(2) failure to maintain adequate records, (3) failure to
cooperate with an IRS investigation, (4) inconsistent or
implausible explanations of behavior and (5) awareness of the
obligation to file returns, report income and pay taxes.” Id.
An application of these criteria to petitioner’s situation
demonstrates convincingly that in failing to file tax returns for
1989 and 1990 she intended to evade paying taxes and therefore
committed fraud. We have found that she received, and knew she
had received, gross income sufficient to require filing returns
for 1989 and 1990. Petitioner has consistently and substantially
understated her income. Part of her defense in this case has
been her claim that Real Services, rather than herself, was the
recipient of the income at issue. However, no corporate income
tax returns were filed on behalf of Real Services. She had not
maintained adequate records; the three pages of handwritten notes
and a cluster of receipts are inadequate under any definition.
Petitioner has contended that most of her business records were
stolen, but we do not believe her. She has not cooperated with
the Internal Revenue Service investigation; instead, petitioner
has manifested a persistent pattern of obstruction,
confrontation, and inattention with respect to respondent’s
attempts to determine the correct amount of her taxable income
for the years in issue. She has been equally persistent in
advancing implausible explanations for her failure to report her
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