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petitioned this Court.
Discussion
As a general rule, the Commissioner’s determinations in the
notice of deficiency are presumed correct, and the burden of
proving an error is on the taxpayer.3 Rule 142(a); Welch v.
Helvering, 290 U.S. 111, 115 (1933). Under section 7491(c), the
Commissioner’s burden of production is to produce evidence that
it is appropriate to impose the relevant penalty, addition to
tax, or additional amount. Higbee v. Commissioner, 116 T.C. 438,
446 (2001). The Commissioner, however, does not have the
obligation to introduce evidence regarding reasonable cause. Id.
at 446-47.
We first address petitioner’s motion to reopen the record.
Petitioner contends that he is entitled to an additional
dependent exemption for his wife. Despite several requests by
respondent’s counsel for any documents relevant to issues in the
instant case, petitioner refused to provide any evidence that
proved he was married. Petitioner appeared at trial and again
refused to provide any evidence, contending that he believed that
he did not have to prove facts known in his community.
Petitioner also contended that a house fire had destroyed many of
3Sec. 7491(a)(1) does not apply in the instant case because
petitioner refused to comply with respondent’s requests for
information and documents. See sec. 7491(a)(2).
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