- 16 -
been offered here. Nonetheless, the Court need not probe this
matter in detail as to individual items because of the remaining
considerations discussed next.
Second, even where credible evidence is introduced, the
taxpayer must establish, as a prerequisite to any shift under
section 7491(a)(1), that he or she has complied under section
7491(a)(2) with all substantiation requirements, has maintained
all required records, and has cooperated with reasonable requests
for witnesses, information, documents, meetings, and interviews.
H. Conf. Rept. 105-599, supra at 239-240, 1998-3 C.B. at 993-994.
Petitioners in their burden of proof argument make no attempt to
address specifically whether they have satisfied these
conditions, and the record indicates that they have not.
Since this is primarily a substantiation matter, the ideas
of credible evidence and substantiation are to a significant
extent intertwined, and our comments above apply equally in this
context. In addition, given the circumstances surrounding the
noncontemporaneous reconstruction of records underlying the
amounts claimed by petitioners in these cases and the lack of
supporting invoices or receipts for a significant number of the
outlays, maintenance of all required records would also appear to
be lacking. Full cooperation is likewise called into question
where the record contains copies of information document requests
from respondent highlighting items requested during the
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