Gary and Johnean Hansen - Page 6

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          accounts or $96,9547 and that petitioners’ net realizable equity            
          in their retirement accounts and home was the same as the                   
          reported values.  Cochran also reduced the values of petitioners’           
          vehicles by 20 percent to reflect their “quick sale values”.8               
          Cochran summarized petitioners’ assets and liabilities as                   
          follows:                                                                    
                                                                                     
                                   Fair     Quick                   Net               
          market   sale    Encumbrance   realizable                                   
          Assets              value    value   or exemption    equity                 
          Cash                         $101,981     --         --      $101,981/      
                                                                 96,954               
          Retirement accounts      120,903    --         --      120,903              
          Vehicles:                                                                   
          1992 Chevy Lumina              200    $160        --           160          
          1993 Mercury Villager    1,340  1,072        --        1,072                
          1999 Buick LeSabre            3,230   2,584        --         2,584         
          Real Estate                 84,340     –-         –-        84,340          
                                  311,994  3,816      $0      1311,200/              
                                                            306,013                   
               1 Petitioners’ net realizable equity is actually $311,040.             
          This slight mathematical error is not significant to the                    
          overall calculation.                                                        
          Cochran made three adjustments to petitioners’ reported expenses.           
          First, she allowed $1,280 (instead of $2,000) for monthly food,             
          clothing, and miscellaneous expenses.  Cochran made this                    


               7 Cochran arrived at the latter figure by reducing the                 
          amount of cash in petitioners’ bank accounts by the cash they               
          proposed to pay as part of the offer-in-compromise.  Petitioners            
          stated on their Form 656 that “The taxpayers have placed a total            
          of $85,231 on account as advance deposits; the remainder is from            
          cash assets.”  Cochran subtracted the claimed advance deposits              
          ($85,231) from the offer amount ($90,258) and reduced the net               
          realizable equity by $5,027 (from $101,981 to $96,954).                     
               8 Cochran was told by petitioners that they had ascertained            
          the value of each vehicle by using its trade-in value and                   
          considering its condition to be “fair.”                                     





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