Gordon and Ilene Freeman - Page 16

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          second example describes a taxpayer who received erroneous advice           
          from the Commissioner as to the tax effect of the taxpayer’s                
          actions.  Neither example bears any resemblance to this case.               
          Unlike the exceptional circumstances exemplified in the                     
          regulations, petitioners’ situation is neither unique nor                   
          exceptional in that their situation mirrors those of numerous               
          other taxpayers who claimed tax shelter deductions in the 1980s             
          and 1990s.  See Keller v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2006-166;                
          Barnes v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2006-150.                                
               Of course, the examples in the regulations are not meant to            
          be exhaustive, and petitioners have a more sympathetic case than            
          the taxpayers in Fargo v. Commissioner, 447 F.3d at 714, for whom           
          the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit noted that “no                   
          evidence was presented to suggest that Taxpayers were the subject           
          of fraud or deception”.  Such considerations, however, have not             
          kept this Court from finding investors in the Hoyt tax shelters             
          to be liable for penalties and interest, nor have they prevented            
          the Courts of Appeals for the Sixth, Ninth, and Tenth Circuits              
          from affirming our decisions to that effect.  See Hansen v.                 
          Commissioner, 471 F.3d 1021 (9th Cir. 2006), affg. T.C. Memo.               
          2004-269; Mortensen v. Commissioner, 440 F.3d 375 (6th Cir.                 
          2006), affg. T.C. Memo. 2004-279; Van Scoten v. Commissioner, 439           
          F.3d 1243 (10th Cir. 2006), affg. T.C. Memo. 2004-275.                      







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