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tapes, it was probably a weekday that was slow for some
reason. We also took July 14th and came up with $542
as the total for that particular day.
So I felt that between these two, substantiating a
$328 average of the prior year was within reason.
As we said in Diaz v. Commissioner, 58 T.C. 560, 564
(1972):
This case epitomizes the ultimate task of a trier of
the facts--the distillation of truth from falsehood
which is the daily grist of judicial life. We must be
careful to avoid making the Courtroom a haven for the
skillful liar or a quagmire in which the honest
litigant is swallowed up. Truth itself is never in
doubt, but it often has an elusive quality which makes
the search for it fraught with difficulty. That this
is so is clearly illustrated by the situation herein.
* * *
We closely observed Mr. Chiate and Mr. Ozenne at trial. We
find the testimony of each of them to have been contrived and
untrustworthy, and we completely disregard it.
On the other hand, we found Ms. Groom to be a credible,
forthcoming witness whose professionalism was evidenced by the
documentation admitted at trial to credit her audit of petitioner
for the applicable period.
She consulted with the restaurant’s accountant and
bookkeeper, Mr. Kelson (the original owner of Moonshadows). She
reviewed the daily meal tickets, the daily cash register tapes
from cash registers 1 (dining room) and 2 (bar), and, in
particular, the manual computations prepared by Mr. Kelson on a
daily basis to reconcile cash register tape l with cash register
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