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Petitioner’s Petition
In her petition, petitioner asserted that all of her tax
records were destroyed by Tropical Storm Allison. Petitioner
also asserted that “I was asked by IRS representative[s] to
reconstruct a mileage log from memory which would force me to
tell untruths about mileage.” At trial, petitioner did not
explain why a reconstruction of her records would necessarily be
untruthful.
Discussion
Generally, the Commissioner’s determinations are presumed
correct, and the taxpayer bears the burden of proving that those
determinations are erroneous. Rule 142(a); Welch v. Helvering,
290 U.S. 111, 115 (1933).2
In her petition and at trial, petitioner attributed her lack
of records to Tropical Storm Allison. Clearly petitioner
suffered damage because of that storm, and some of her records
may have been lost or destroyed. However, a taxpayer is still
obliged to reconstruct his or her records as best as possible,
and on this score petitioner did not acquit herself well.
In addition, the focus on Tropical Storm Allison begs the
question regarding the quality and quantum of records that
2 Sec. 7491(a) does not apply in this case to shift the
burden of proof to respondent because petitioner neither alleged
that sec. 7491(a) is applicable nor satisfied the threshold
requirements of sec. 7491(a)(2)(A) and (B). See Higbee v.
Commissioner, 116 T.C. 438, 442-443 (2001).
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Last modified: May 25, 2011