- 18 - Under section 6201(d), if the taxpayer asserts a “reasonable dispute” with respect to any item of income reported on a third- party information return and the taxpayer has “fully cooperated” with the Secretary, the Secretary shall have the burden of producing reasonable and probative information concerning a deficiency in addition to the information return. See Gussie v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2001-302. Petitioner makes general and unsubstantiated assertions that the information returns involved in this case are fraudulent. However, she does not claim to have made known her dispute to the third parties who prepared them. She has not “fully cooperated” with the Secretary in providing information relating to her 1995, 1996, and 1997 tax years. We conclude that section 6201(d) is not applicable. Absent application of those special statutory provisions, the Commissioner’s determinations in a notice of deficiency generally are presumptively correct, and the taxpayer has the burden of proving that those determinations are erroneous or arbitrary. Rule 142(a); Welch v. Helvering, 290 U.S. 111, 115 (1933); Kearns v. Commissioner, 979 F.2d 1176, 1178 (6th Cir. 1992), affg. T.C. Memo. 1991-320. However, the Commissioner cannot rest on the presumption of correctness alone where the taxpayer challenges the determinations of unreported income made in the notice of deficiency. United States v. Walton, 909 F.2d 915, 919 (6th Cir. 1990); Dellacroce v. Commissioner, 83 T.C.Page: Previous 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011