Albert James Lawless - Page 7

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               Under certain circumstances, this Court may accept the                 
          credible testimony of witnesses regarding the preparation and               
          mailing of a tax return when the Commissioner’s records do not              
          show receipt of a return and the taxpayer cannot provide any                
          documentary evidence of the filing of such return.  See                     
          Sorrentino v. IRS, 383 F.3d 1187, 1193-1194 (10th Cir. 2004);               
          Estate of Wood v. Commissioner, 92 T.C. 793, 796-798 (1989)                 
          (testimony of postal employee who affixed postmark to return),              
          affd. 909 F.2d 1155 (8th Cir. 1990); Mitchell Offset Plate Serv.,           
          Inc. v. Commissioner, 53 T.C. 235, 239-240 (1969) (testimony of             
          corporation’s shareholders and its accountants).  However, a                
          taxpayer’s own testimony concerning his or her habit regarding              
          the preparation and mailing of his or her returns is not                    
          sufficient by itself.  See Longazel v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo.             
          1994-487; Duralia v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1994-269.                     
               Based on the entirety of the record, petitioner’s testimony            
          does not establish that he filed his return on September 3, 1999.           
          Moreover, the fact that petitioner also did not file his                    
          individual Colorado State income tax return until July 2, 2003,             
          suggests that he filed both his Federal and State income tax                
          returns at about the same time.  We thus conclude that petitioner           
          failed to carry his burden of proving that he filed his return on           
          September 3, 1999.  Rather, based on the evidence adduced, we               
          hold that petitioner filed his 1998 return on July 10, 2003.                






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