- 72 -
legal fees65 was incurred concerning unemployment issues.
Presumably, these were not personal expenses. However, for the
majority of the charges detailed, it is either impossible to
determine the purpose of the charges or those charges do not
appear to be deductible expenses of ERG. For example, there are
charges concerning a property line dispute and loan agreement and
“MVPC documents”. These could be either personal or business
expenses since both ERG and the Bensons donated money to MVPC for
which charitable deductions were claimed. Additionally, there
are charges relating to probating Esther’s estate, which would
not appear to be ERG’s deductible expense. Petitioners have
failed to meet their burden of proof as to these items except for
$126. Accordingly, we hold that Burton has constructive dividend
income of $4,033.66
13. Employee Relations Expenses
Respondent determined that the Bensons received certain
amounts paid by ERG designated as business relations expenses.
On brief, respondent’s only argument is that the Bensons failed
to overcome the presumption of correctness in the notice of
deficiency as to this issue. The amount of income determined by
respondent is $4,027, but the invoices in evidence total
$3,035.16. See supra p. 30. The Bensons failed to overcome the
65That is $210 per hour multiplied by .6 of an hour.
66That is $4,159 less $126.
Page: Previous 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 NextLast modified: May 25, 2011