Bowlin v. Comm'r

31 T.C. 188, 1958 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 48
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedOctober 27, 1958
DocketDocket Nos. 55571, 65486
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 31 T.C. 188 (Bowlin v. Comm'r) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Tax Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bowlin v. Comm'r, 31 T.C. 188, 1958 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 48 (tax 1958).

Opinion

OPINION.

Turner, Judge:

The respondent has determined deficiencies in income tax and additions thereto for fraud against petitioner Robert Leslie Bowlin for the years 1942 through 1947, and his determination of such deficiencies is presumptively correct. The parties are agreed, however, that in the absence of proof that Bowlin’s returns for the said years were false and fraudulent with intent to evade tax, the statute of limitations has run as to all years, and the burden of proving fraud is on the respondent.

In their reply brief, the petitioners admit that Bowlin’s books and records did not reflect all of the receipts from his medical practice and that they were inadequate for the determination of his taxable income. They also admit that the income tax returns filed by him did not show his entire income. Classifying Bowlin’s underreporting of his income has “undeniable” negligence, they contend that the respondent has failed to meet his burden of proving that the returns were false and fraudulent with intent to evade tax.

From the evidence of record and the facts shown thereby, we are convinced that Bowlin’s returns for all of the years herein were false and fraudulent with intent to evade tax, and we have so found.

Taking into account the expenditures from Bowlin’s checking account for the taxable years, together with the insurance premiums admittedly paid in cash and not from the bank account, the items of expense claimed on his returns which were not traceable to the bank account, and the amounts expended for United States war bonds not traceable to either Bowlin’s or Ann’s bank account, there is an indicated total of expenditures for each of the years in question greatly in excess of reported gross income, and for each of the years 1944, 1945, 1946, and 1947, of more than twice the reported gross income, and for each of the last 8 such years, quite substantially more than twice the gross income reported.

Furthermore, there can be no doubt, we think, that such indicated excess of expenditures over reported gross income represented unreported income in substantial part, if not in toto, as the respondent has determined. In response to an inquiry by the special agent assigned to the case, made at a conference on January 5, 1950, as to whether Bowlin had any funds on hand at the beginning of 1942, it was Bowlin’s best estimate, subsequently made in writing, that in 1942 he had about $5,000 in a lock box, which, beginning with $1,200 collected as a result of an automobile accident some years previously, had from time to time been saved in small amounts. The evidence further shows that when opened in 1949, the lock box then contained $5,000 in currency. It would thus appear, and the petitioners, in effect, so acknowledge in their reply brief, that Bowlin did not draw the money to cover the very substantial expenditures in excess of reported gross income during the taxable years from any funds accumulated in prior years. It is to be noted also that none of the returns reflect any sale or liquidation of property, from which such funds could have been derived. Furthermore, the petitioners have both alleged, in verified petitions herein, that throughout the period in question, income from the practice of medicine, plus “certain” interest and dividends, constituted Bowlin’s sole source of income. In that connection, it is to be noted that $12.14, reported in 1942, constituted the only item of interest reported for the taxable years, and that whatever the amount of dividends received, they were wholly unreported.

When considered with other facts of record, it is of significance, we think, that for each of the years the unreported income is fully accounted for by nondeductible expenditures for United States war bonds and insurance premiums, considerable portions of the latter being premiums paid in advance, and that these expenditures were, except for negligible amounts, made in cash from income received in cash or, possibly to some extent, from the proceeds of checks which did not clear through Bowlin’s bank account. Bond purchases increased from $3,787.50 in 1942, $3,412.50 of which was in currency, to $7,500 for 1943, all of which was in currency. Insurance premiums, on the other hand, were $531.25 for 1942, and $793.16 in 1943, all of which were paid by check. In 1944, the bond purchases remained at $7,500, all of which was in currency, whereas insurance premiums paid jumped to $7,655.36, of which $4,921.38 was in currency. On each of 3 policies, 8 annual premiums were paid, of which 7 were advance premiums, as compared with the payment of current premiums only in each of the 2 years preceding, while on 2 other policies 14 annual premiums were paid, in addition to the current premiums. For 1945, the expenditures for bonds were $7,537.50, all of which was in currency, while insurance premium payments increased to $11,443.67, of which $9,502.81 was in cash. On 1 policy, 13 annual premiums were paid in advance, in addition to the current premium, and by a payment of $6,168.20 1 policy became a paid-up policy. For 1946, only $768.75 was expended for bonds, as against $15,997.37 for insurance premiums, only $363.20 of which was paid by check, and of the premiums so paid, 4 on 1 policy, 5 on another, and 12 on a third were advance premiums. For 1947, there were no bond purchases, as compared with the payment of $14,868.72 for insurance premiums, of which $14,505.52 was in currency.

It is to be noted also, and is not without significance, we think, that as greater portions of Bowlin’s income bypassed his books and his income tax returns, similarly there were noticeable increases in the amounts of his currency transactions, which likewise were not reflected by his records, and that whereas his deposit slips for 1942 and 1943 indicated that he did make deposits of cash on occasions, no cash was included in any of his deposits in 1944,1945,1946, and 1947.

Patently, the source of some substantial part of Bowlin’s unreported income represented fees from patients treated by him in Memphis hospitals during the taxable years. In fact, most of his hospital cases were never recorded on his books. A check of the records of Memphis hospitals disclosed that for the years 1942 through 1947 Bowlin’s hospitalized patients were 662 in number, 391, or approximately 59 per cent, of which do not appear in Bowlin’s accounts. Also, just as there had been a steady increase in Bowlin’s income and in his nondeductible currency expenditures from a low in 1942 to a peak in 1945, there was a corresponding increase in the number of hospital patients. And particularly noticeable is the fact that there was a corresponding rise, from year to year, in the percentage of such patients which were never carried by Bowlin into his accounts. In 1942, 34 of 73, or 46.5 per cent, of Bowlin’s hospital patients were omitted by him from his books. Sixty-nine of 122, or 56.5 per cent, were omitted in 1943; 77 of 132, or 58.3 per cent, in 1944; and 106 of 149, or 71.1 per cent, in 1945. In 1946, however, when the number of Bowlin’s hospital patients dropped to 83, which was only 10 above the number for 1942, and the number omitted by him from his accounts was 37, the percentage of omissions was 44.75, and was likewise somewhat comparable to the percentage omitted for 1942. But in 1947, when the number of such patients increased to 103, 68, or 66 per cent, were omitted by Bowlin from his books.

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Bowlin v. Comm'r
31 T.C. 188 (U.S. Tax Court, 1958)

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Bluebook (online)
31 T.C. 188, 1958 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 48, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bowlin-v-commr-tax-1958.