Timothy Nicholls - Page 7

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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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