- 66 -
remained unchanged or got worse during the years at
issue.
Respondent argues that
The erroneous deductions giving rise to the deficiencies
and the 1990 unpaid liability provided both of the
Monsours with significantly more disposable income than
they otherwise would have had.
Normal support is not a significant benefit. Flynn v.
Commissioner, 93 T.C. 355, 367 (1989). Normal support is measured
by the circumstances of the parties. Id. In order to determine
whether the requesting spouse significantly benefited from the
items giving rise to the deficiency, we consider whether the
requesting spouse and the nonrequesting spouse were able to make
expenditures in the taxable years in question that they otherwise
would not have been able to make. See Alt v. Commissioner, 119
T.C. at 314; Jonson v. Commissioner, 118 T.C. at 119-120.
We have found that from the time of their marriage on July 3,
1983, until 1986, petitioner and Mr. Monsour did not worry about
money and did not scrutinize their discretionary spending to any
significant extent. In 1986, Mr. Monsour began to experience tax
problems when Congress enacted certain provisions into the Code
that in general eliminated the favorable tax treatment that the
Code had previously permitted with respect to at least certain of
Mr. Monsour’s Florida investments. As a result of, inter alia,
those tax problems, petitioner and Mr. Monsour began to scrutinize
their discretionary spending much more than they had in the past.
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