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Respondent must prove fraud for each year at issue. See id. at
210; Ferguson v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2004-90.
Petitioners argue that they did not file their returns with
fraudulent intent because they gave all of the responsibility
regarding the preparation of HRDC’s and their 1993, 1994, and
1995 returns to Ms. Enerson and their tax return preparers. They
also claim that they did not have control over HRDC’s books
because Ms. Enerson maintained them and they did not review their
returns before they were filed. We are unconvinced by
petitioners’ explanations. Petitioners rely heavily on the fact
that Mr. Payne was a high school educated roofer and did not
understand tax or business records. However, Ms. Enerson was
hired soon after graduating from high school and had no
experience as either a bookkeeper or a tax return preparer.
Petitioners claim they had no knowledge of what Ms. Enerson
provided to Mr. Gunderson for the preparation of their returns.
The record does not support petitioners’ claim. Petitioners met
with Mr. Gunderson when they hired him and discussed the relevant
aspects of the business. During this initial meeting, Mr.
Gunderson asked if all the money from the business went into the
bank accounts. Mr. Payne told him it did. As a result, Mr.
Gunderson used only HRDC’s bank records, which did not accurately
reflect HRDC’s income, to complete the returns. Because
petitioners gave Mr. Campion the 1995 return prepared by Mr.
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