Jones v. Commissioner

1982 T.C. Memo. 277, 43 T.C.M. 1416, 1982 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 467
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedMay 19, 1982
DocketDocket No. 11476-79.
StatusUnpublished

This text of 1982 T.C. Memo. 277 (Jones v. Commissioner) 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
Jones v. Commissioner, 1982 T.C. Memo. 277, 43 T.C.M. 1416, 1982 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 467 (tax 1982).

Opinion

FRANKLIN DEWAINE JONES, Petitioner v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent
Jones v. Commissioner
Docket No. 11476-79.
United States Tax Court
T.C. Memo 1982-277; 1982 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 467; 43 T.C.M. (CCH) 1416; T.C.M. (RIA) 82277;
May 19, 1982.

*467 Petitioner lived in Texas, a community property state, in 1975, 1976, and 1977. Petitioner and his wife separated in 1974 and were divorced in October 1976. Petitioner filed protester-type 1040 forms for 1975, 1976, and 1977.

Held: Petitioner is taxable on one-half of his wife's earnings for 1975 and for 1976 up until the time they were divorced. Alleged oral agreement between petitioner and his wife to treat their future earnings as separate property was not valid under Texas law in those years.

Held, further: Petitioner's constitutional rights not violated.

Held, further: Petitioner is liable for the additions to tax imposed by sections 6651(a), 6653(a), and 6654 for each of the years 1975, 1976, and 1977.

Franklin DeWaine Jones, pro se.
Douglas R. Fortney, for the respondent.

DRENNEN

DRENNEN, Judge: Respondent determined deficiencies in and additions to petitioner's Federal income taxes for the taxable years 1975, 1976, and 1977 as follows: *469

LessAdditions to tax
prepayment
YearDeficiencycreditssec. 6651(a)(1) 1sec. 6653(a)sec. 6654
1975$ 1,167.64$ 659.34$ 127.08$ 58.38$ 14.95
19761,073.33685.0597.0753.677.31
1977500.460125.1225.0217.75

The issues presented for decision are: (1) Whether one-half of the community income earned by petitioner's spouse at a time they were married but living apart in a community property state is taxable to petitioner; (2) whether certain constitutional rights of petitioner's have been violated; (3) whether petitioner is liable for additions to tax imposed under section 6651(a)(1) for failure to file timely income tax returns, (4) whether petitioner is liable for additions to tax imposed under section 6653(a) for negligence or intentional disregard of the rules and regulations; and (5) whether petitioner is liable for additions to tax imposed under section 6654 for underpayment of estimated tax.

FINDINGS OF FACT

Petitioner Franklin DeWaine Jones (hereinafter petitioner) *470 resided at Amarillo, Tex., at the time he filed the petition herein. Petitioner filed with the Internal Revenue Service an incomplete individual Form 1040 for each of the taxable years 1975, 1976, and 1977.

The 1040 forms filed by petitioner for 1975 and 1976 contained the notation "Less than 740 dollars" in the space provided for income other than wages, dividends, and interest. The remaining spaces contained no information regarding petitioner's income or deductions for such year, but instead had a single or double asterisk in each space in which an income or other figure was to be reported. 2

The Form 1040 filed by petitioner for the taxable year 1977 contained the word "none" *471 in the space provided for wages, salaries, tips, and other employee compensation. In the remainder of the spaces for the various income items, petitioner entered "object - self-incrimination." All of the remaining spaces of the return contained the words "object - self-incrimination" or "none."

In 1971 petitioner married Rita LaVerne Jones (hereinafter Rita). In 1974, petitioner and Rita were separated and living apart from one another. Following their separation, petitioner and Rita entered into an agreement that the wages earned by the estranged spouses would remain their separate property. As a result, following their separation, petitioner did not receive any of the wages earned by Rita nor did Rita receive any of the income earned by petitioner. In October of 1976, petitioner and Rita were divorced.

At all times during 1975 and 1976, both petitioner and Rita were residents of the state of Texas, a community property state. Petitioner was also a resident of Texas at all times during 1977.

During 1974, petitioner was a partner in the T. D. Lapidary and Craft Hobby Supply Partnership (hereinafter T. D. Lapidary). 3 Petitioner's distributive share of partnership income*472 for 1974 was $ 3,761.55. This partnership was dissolved at the end of 1974 and petitioner continued the business as a sole proprietorship.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Free v. Bland
369 U.S. 663 (Supreme Court, 1962)
United States v. Arthur J. Porth
426 F.2d 519 (Tenth Circuit, 1970)
United States v. Morris Reid Smith, Jr.
618 F.2d 280 (Fifth Circuit, 1980)
United States v. Gary A. Rickman
638 F.2d 182 (Tenth Circuit, 1980)
Carnes v. Meador
533 S.W.2d 365 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1975)
Texas Building & Mortgage Co. v. Rosenbaum
159 S.W.2d 554 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1942)
Robbins v. Robbins
125 S.W.2d 666 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1939)
Hunt v. Commissioner
22 T.C. 228 (U.S. Tax Court, 1954)
Reaver v. Commissioner
42 T.C. 72 (U.S. Tax Court, 1964)
Cupp v. Commissioner
65 T.C. 68 (U.S. Tax Court, 1975)
Hatfield v. Commissioner
68 T.C. 895 (U.S. Tax Court, 1977)
Wilkinson v. Commissioner
71 T.C. 633 (U.S. Tax Court, 1979)
White v. Commissioner
72 T.C. 1126 (U.S. Tax Court, 1979)
Browne v. Commissioner
73 T.C. 723 (U.S. Tax Court, 1980)
Reiff v. Commissioner
77 T.C. 1169 (U.S. Tax Court, 1981)
Shoenhair v. Commissioner
45 B.T.A. 576 (Board of Tax Appeals, 1941)
Rosenbaum v. Texas Bldg. & Mortg. Co.
167 S.W.2d 506 (Texas Commission of Appeals, 1943)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1982 T.C. Memo. 277, 43 T.C.M. 1416, 1982 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 467, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jones-v-commissioner-tax-1982.