- 136 - taxpayer’s entire course of conduct and drawing reasonable inferences therefrom. Korecky v. Commissioner, supra at 1568. Fraud is rarely provable by direct evidence but may be provable by circumstantial evidence. Brooks v. Commissioner, 82 T.C. 413, 431 (1984), affd. without published opinion 772 F.2d 910 (9th Cir. 1985). Such evidence includes, but is not limited to the following “badges of fraud”: (1) Understating income, (2) maintaining inadequate records, (3) failing to file tax returns, (4) giving implausible or inconsistent explanations of behavior, (5) concealing income or assets, (6) failing to cooperate with tax authorities, (7) engaging in illegal activities, (8) an intent to mislead which may be inferred from a pattern of conduct, (9) lack of credibility of the taxpayer’s testimony, (10) filing false documents, and (11) dealing in cash. See Bradford v. Commissioner, 796 F.2d 303, 307 (9th Cir. 1986), affg. T.C. Memo. 1984-601; Recklitis v. Commissioner, 91 T.C. 874, 910 (1988); Kalo v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1996-482. No single factor is necessarily dispositive, but a combination of several factors is persuasive circumstantial evidence of fraud. Petzoldt v. Commissioner, 92 T.C. at 699. We find substantial evidence of fraud in this case. The record shows a consistent pattern of understating income by petitioner. For the years in issue, petitioner received substantial amounts of income from his real estate business,Page: Previous 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 Next
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