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taxpayer challenges the Commissioner’s determination of a
deficiency in tax on the merits, the Commissioner need not
provide any such foundation. See Roat v. Commissioner, 847 F.2d
1379, 1383 (9th Cir. 1988) (sustaining order of Tax Court
dismissing taxpayers’ case for failure to prosecute). While we
believe that petitioner has forgone a challenge to the merits of
respondent’s determinations of deficiencies, see id. (no
challenge to merits of the Commissioner’s deficiency
determination where taxpayer did not argue merits, did not seek
information about merits, and relied solely on motion to dismiss
for lack of jurisdiction), we need not decide that issue because,
in apparent anticipation of the application of the Weimerskirch
line of cases, respondent has provided a satisfactory evidentiary
foundation linking petitioner to both employment-type and
investment-type income-producing activities during the years in
question. That foundation consists of certified Internal Revenue
Service (IRS) records, payer-provided information returns (such
as IRS Forms 1099-DIV and W-2),3 and bank records (including
2(...continued)
forward with substantive evidence establishing a ‘minimal
evidentiary foundation’ in all cases involving the receipt of
unreported income to preserve the statutory notice's presumption
of correctness.”). Although appeal of this case may lie to a
Court of Appeals other than the Court of Appeals for the Ninth
Circuit, Weimerskirch imposes as high a hurdle as respondent may
face.
3 Though respondent has provided verification of some of
the items of income reported in those information returns,
(continued...)
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