Brunwasser v. Commissioner

1986 T.C. Memo. 198, 51 T.C.M. 1019, 1986 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 414
United States Tax Court·Decided May 15, 1986·No. Docket No. 34386-84.·Unpublished

Opinion

ALLEN N. BRUNWASSER AND BEVERLY BRUNWASSER, Petitioners v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent
Brunwasser v. Commissioner
Docket No. 34386-84.
United States Tax Court
T.C. Memo 1986-198; 1986 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 414; 51 T.C.M. (CCH) 1019; T.C.M. (RIA) 86198;
May 15, 1986.
Allen N. Brunwasser, pro se.
Edward J. Laubach, Jr., for the respondent.

DRENNEN

MEMORANDUM FINDINGS OF FACT AND OPINION

DRENNEN, Judge: This case was assigned to Special Trial Judge Hu S. Vandervort pursuant to section 7456 and Rules 180 and 181. 1 The Court agrees with and adopts his opinion, which is set forth below.

OPINION OF THE SPECIAL TRIAL*416 JUDGE

VANDERVORT, Special Trial Judge: This case is before the Court on respondent's Motion for Summary Judgment and To Award Damages Under I.R.C. Section 6673, filed May 16, 1985. 2

In the notice of deficiency issued to petitioners on July 3, 1984, the Commissioner determined deficiencies in petitioners' Federal income taxes for the taxable years 1980*417 and 1981 in the amounts of $21,412.91 and $3,141.68, respectively.

The issues raised by respondent's motion are: (1) whether there exists a deficiency in petitioners' Federal income taxes for 1980; (2) whether there exists a deficiency in petitioners' Federal income taxes for 1981; and, (3) whether damages should be awarded to the United States pursuant to section 6673.

Petitioners timely filed their 1980 Federal income tax return on August 24, 1981, having been granted an extension until September 15, 1981 to file such return. On Schedule G, Income Averaging, petitioners made several mistakes in their addition and subtraction. In computing the Base Year 1978 and the Base Year 1976, petitioners made the following errors:

Petitioners' ComputationCorrect Computation
Line 1   $144,705.00$144,705.00
Base Year-Line 2(a)2,250.00- 2,250.00
1978$141,455.00$142,455.00
Base YearLine 3   $131,568.00$131,568.00
1976+Line 5   3,200.003,200.00
$128,368.00$134,768.00

In computing the tax on the Schedule G (lines 15-28), petitioners made several more errors which account for a large part of the final erroneous*418 Schedule G calculation. On line 22 petitioners mistakenly inserted $90,683.00 when they should have reported $84,771.00. Thus when they subtracted line 22 ($90,683.00) from line 21 ($90,683.00) petitioners came up with zero in line 23 when it should have been $7,120.00. This result follows because petitioners also incorrectly computed the entry for line 21; the correct entry was $91,891. Next on line 24, when petitioners were instructed to multiply the amount on line 23 by 4, they came up with zero when they should have reported $28,480.00. As a result of these computational errors on Schedule G, petitioners reflected a total tax liability, inclusive of self-employment tax, of $92,780.90, rather than the correct tax, utilizing Schedule G, of $122,468.90 on their Form 1040.

On October 19, 1981, petitioners received a mathematical or clerical error assessment pursuant to sections 6213(b)(1). The assessment was abated on March 21, 1983, after petitioners requested an appeal from the assessment under section 6213(b)(2). Thereafter, an audit of petitioners' 1980 return was conducted.

Petitioners timely filed their 1981 Federal income tax return on September 22, 1982 having been*419 granted an extension to file to October 15, 1982. While filling out their return, petitioners made the following errors. On Form 4726, Maximum Tax on Personal Service Income, petitioners made several mistakes. In determining net income on line 3 they omitted their $7,500.00 Keogh deduction. In addition petitioners incorrectly substracted the figure on line 18 from the amount on line 17, resulting in the incorrect figure on line 19. (Even if petitioners had not made the subtraction error, their results would have been incorrect due to the omission of the Keogh deduction earlier in the calculation of the maximum tax). On line 20 petitioner reported a final figure of $122,176 as their maximum tax, while the correct computation yields $125,153.04.

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Brunwasser v. Commissioner, 1986 T.C. Memo. 198, 51 T.C.M. 1019, 1986 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 414 (tax 1986).

1986 T.C. Memo. 198 (Brunwasser v. Commissioner) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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