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Petitioner maintained a separate bank account under the name
Royster Basketball School. It is unclear, however, from the
canceled checks provided by petitioner, whether the account was
used entirely and solely for the purpose of operating RBS. As an
example, there are copious checks written to “cash”, as well as
for bank card and cell phone accounts. Most of the memorandum
lines on these checks are blank. Moreover, the record is devoid
of any evidence that there were any deposits made to the account
during the years in issue. Based on our review of the canceled
checks provided, we find that petitioner did not maintain the
checking account in question in a businesslike manner.
Although petitioner provided respondent with a document
entitled, “Business Plan for RBS” on May 25, 2006, shortly before
the trial of this case, we believe that petitioner did not have a
business plan prior to or during the years in issue. We base
this conclusion on the fact that when specifically asked whether
he had then or ever had a business plan for RBS during an
informal meeting with respondent in November of 2005, petitioner
admitted that he did not then, or ever, have such a plan.
Finally, although petitioner continually asserts that
basketball is “a business” and that RBS was his way of
participating in the business, petitioner does not profess that
he was in the business of operating a profitable basketball
school. In fact, petitioner colorfully and frankly testified
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