- 10 - taxpayer complied with all substantiation requirements, maintained all required records, and cooperated with reasonable requests by the Service “for witnesses, information, documents, meetings, and interviews”. Sec. 7491(a)(2); Higbee v. Commissioner, 116 T.C. 438, 440-441 (2001). Section 7491(c) provides that the Commissioner shall have the burden of production with respect to any penalty. See also Higbee v. Commissioner, supra at 446-447. A taxpayer who provides only self-serving testimony and inconclusive documentation is not considered to have provided credible evidence. See Blodgett v. Commissioner, 394 F.3d 1030 (8th Cir. 2005) affg., T.C. Memo. 2003-212; Higbee v. Commissioner, supra at 445-446. Credible evidence is evidence that, “after critical analysis, the Court would find sufficient upon which to base a decision on the issue if no contrary evidence were submitted”. Higbee v. Commissioner, supra at 442 (citing H. Conf. Rept. 105- 599, at 240-241 (1998), 1998-3 C.B. 747, 994-995). Evidence is not credible if the Court is not convinced that it is worthy of belief. Id. On the basis of the record before us, we conclude that petitioner did not introduce credible evidence with respect to the factual issues presented under section 165. Petitioner provided only incomplete and inconclusive documentation, alongPage: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Next
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