- 3 - schedule over the previous 3 to 4 years. Because of his past experience in the insurance industry, Mr. Keeley decided to become a self-employed insurance broker. In September 1996, Mr. Keeley began to work on a commission basis as an insurance broker with New York Life Insurance Co. (New York Life). By mid-1997, Mr. Keeley stopped working as an insurance broker because he failed to meet New York Life’s application approval rate. Around this time, Mr. Keeley suffered a mental breakdown as a result of “not being able to support the family, having what I felt was a good situation turn into what was a very bad situation at that point in time, that being the self-employment opportunity”. In addition, Mrs. Keeley thought that Mr. Keeley’s depression “robbed him of the confidence to do his job successfully” such that “by March [of 1997], he could not function on the job at all” and that “during the summer and early autumn, he spent a good part of the day in bed”. Thus, Mr. Keeley became unemployed for several months, except for small jobs, e.g., delivering newspapers and collecting donations. As a result of petitioners’ financial hardship,4 Mr. Keeley withdrew funds in 1997 from his individual retirement account 4 Mr. Keeley testified that in 1997 his income declined to $3,000. We note, however, that on their 1997 return, petitioners reported gross wages of $15,705 ($3,115 of which was earned by Mr. Keeley), and on a Schedule C, Profit or Loss From Business, attached to their return, Mr. Keeley reported gross receipts of $13,140 and a net profit of $4,766.Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Next
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