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Income Tax Unreported Income

Posted by Mike C Posted on Dec 18 2012

Taxpayers are required by IRC Sec. 6001 to maintain books and records that are sufficient to establish the amount of their gross income, and if they fail to do so, the IRS is entitled to reconstruct their income through the use of any reasonable method. In one recent case, the taxpayer was a licensed massage therapist who failed to file federal income tax returns for several years, dealt primarily in cash, and refused to cooperate in the examination. The IRS reconstructed her income for several tax years, with one year (1997) based on a credit application she submitted to JP Morgan-Chase Bank. Because taxpayer "did not produce any evidence beyond self-serving testimony that [the IRS's] income determinations were incorrect," the Tax Court sustained the IRS's income determination for 2007 and the other tax years at issue. Carol Trescott , TC Memo 2012-321