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Petitioner failed to file Federal income tax returns for
2001 and 2002. Petitioner did not submit to respondent’s agents
or counsel, to the Court during trial, or during an opportunity
provided after trial, the amounts of or evidence of deductions
and exemptions to which he claimed entitlement. Records may have
been lost during a fire at petitioner’s father’s residence in
2005, but petitioner made no attempt to reconstruct records or
obtain corroboration of his claims.
OPINION
The above findings of fact are very sketchy because the
parties in this case failed to stipulate or otherwise to provide
a satisfactory record. Petitioner was poorly advised, apparently
by a person not admitted to practice before the Tax Court.
Petitioner did not cooperate with respondent in preparing the
case for trial, which led to excessive reactions by respondent,
including excessive interrogatories and motions. Respondent’s
interrogatories contained eight pages of “definitions” and
“instructions” and were, in effect, directions to require
petitioner to lay out his case in writing rather than simple
questions such as those anticipated by Rule 71. See Pleier v.
Commissioner, 92 T.C. 499 (1989). Such interrogatories are
particularly inappropriate against a pro se petitioner and were
unnecessary in this case because petitioner’s compliance with
other Rules and the standing pretrial order would have supplied
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Last modified: November 10, 2007