Koch v. Dept. of Rev.

Oregon Tax Court·Decided January 16, 2018·No. TC-MD 160391N·Unpublished

Opinion

IN THE OREGON TAX COURT

MAGISTRATE DIVISION

Income Tax

TERESA C. KOCH and ROBERT W. KOCH, )

)

Plaintiffs, ) TC-MD 160391N )

v. )

)

DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE, ) State of Oregon, )

)

Defendant. ) FINAL DECISION1

Plaintiffs appeal Defendant’s Notice of Assessment, dated September 22, 2016, for the 2012 tax year. A trial was held in the Oregon Tax Courtroom on October 20, 2017, in Salem, Oregon. Plaintiffs appeared and testified on their own behalves.2 James C. Strong, Assistant Attorney General, appeared on behalf of Defendant. Dane Palmer (Palmer), Tax Auditor, testified on behalf of Defendant. Plaintiffs’ Exhibits 55 to 57 and 62 to 64 were received without objection.3 Defendant’s Exhibits A, B at 1 to 5, and C to E were received without objection.

I. STATEMENT OF FACTS

Plaintiffs testified about their business reported on their 2012 Schedule C. Teresa testified that they started a bookstore in Newport from scratch beginning in 2011, called “Books on the Beach.” (See Def’s Ex A at 7.) Teresa testified that they purchased books from various locations, including St. Vincent de Paul, the Salvation Army, and the Humane Society, to resell

1 This Final Decision incorporates without change the court’s Decision, entered December 29, 2017. The court did not receive a statement of costs and disbursements within 14 days after its Decision was entered. See Tax Court Rule–Magistrate Division (TCR–MD) 16 C(1).

2 Ordinarily, the court refers to individuals by their last names. However, two witnesses share the same last name, Koch, so the court will use their first names.

3 Defendant questioned the necessity of Plaintiffs’ Exhibit 57 given the admission of Plaintiffs’ Exhibit 56.

Robert testified that Exhibit 57 was a partial mileage log from 2012, whereas Exhibit 56 was the complete log. He testified that the two exhibits were printed from files last revised in 2012 and 2013, respectively. In Robert’s view, the existence of the partial log (Exhibit 57) lent credibility to his testimony regarding the complete log (Exhibit 56).

FINAL DECISION TC-MD 160391N 1 to customers. Plaintiffs testified that they used their two vehicles throughout the year to acquire inventory and bookshelves, and to transport books to the store in Newport.

Defendant audited Plaintiffs’ 2012 Schedule C business loss. (See Def’s Ex B at 1.)

Defendant’s auditor, Palmer, made inventory adjustments, and denied Plaintiffs’ vehicle expenses of $20,293 due to lack of substantiation. (Def’s Ex B at 2.) Defendant issued a Notice of Deficiency dated October 6, 2015. (Id.) Plaintiffs appealed and requested a conference, during which the conference officer Jamie Tenace (Tenace) found additional gross receipt income of $12,564. (Def’s Ex B at 1.) A. Plaintiffs’ 2012 Income Palmer testified that Tenace performed a bank deposit analysis of Plaintiffs’ bank accounts and found unreported income. (See Def’s Ex C.) He testified that he is familiar with the technique of bank deposit analysis and gave the following explanation of the steps followed. First, the auditor totals all of the deposits from the taxpayer’s bank accounts. Second, the auditor identifies and subtracts all of the nontaxable transfers, such as store credits for returned items. Third, the auditor subtracts income items reported on the taxpayer’s return, such as wages and Schedule C income. The auditor treats any remaining deposits that are unaccounted for as taxable income. Palmer testified that Tenace’s analysis of Plaintiffs’ two bank accounts yielded $12,564 in unaccounted-for deposits. (Def’s Ex C at 3.)

Defendant’s bank deposit analysis identified nontaxable transfers totaling $1,126, of which $230 was in November and $896 was in December. (See Def’s Ex C at 1.) Palmer testified that Defendant did not receive deposit slips or similar evidence to identify additional deposits as nontaxable. Robert testified that he did not have any copies of cancelled checks or deposit slips. He testified that Plaintiffs provided to Tenace a large box of evidence, including

FINAL DECISION TC-MD 160391N 2 cancelled checks and deposit slips. Robert testified that those documents were originals, so that is why Plaintiffs could not provide them with their exhibits. Robert testified that the original documents were not returned to Plaintiffs and they evidently did not retain copies. Teresa questioned why Tenace did not appear at trial, given that she performed the audit and bank deposit analysis. Palmer testified that he had no duties with respect to Plaintiffs’ audit.

Robert testified that he reviewed Defendant’s bank deposit analysis and found that Defendant treated certain deposits as taxable income that were not, in fact, taxable income. For instance, a $59.49 store credit from Macy’s on May 29. (See Ptfs’ Ex 64 at 1; Def’s Ex E at 18.) Palmer testified that the Macy’s store credit was identified as a credit in the bank deposit analysis, albeit in June. (See Def’s Ex C at 1 (returned items).) Robert testified that numerous deposits were checks drawn on one of Plaintiffs’ accounts and deposited into another. For instance, he testified that a $400 deposit of check 1323 was drawn from Teresa’s personal bank account and deposited into the business account on January 13. (See Ptfs’ Ex 64 at 1; Def’s Exs D at 1, E at 1.) Robert testified that many deposits were due to Plaintiffs “churning” their own accounts; moving money between the accounts to avoid overdraft fees. He testified that Plaintiffs should not be taxed on their own money. Robert testified that he identified over $6,000 of nontaxable deposits that Defendant treated as taxable income. (Ptfs’ Ex 64.)

Robert testified that Plaintiffs often took loans out from pawn shops in 2012. (See Ptfs’

Ex 55.) He provided some “screen grabs” and other records from the pawn shops showing loans Plaintiffs received and repayments. (See id.) Robert testified that Plaintiffs would leave collateral with the shops and receive cash in return, which they would pay back with interest. He testified that he could not recall what he did with all of the pawn shop loans; some funds would have been deposited into the bank and other funds would have been used on book-buying trips.

FINAL DECISION TC-MD 160391N 3

Robert testified that, in 2012, Plaintiffs’ pawn shop loans and amounts churned between bank accounts totaled over $12,500, which exceeds the amount that Defendant claimed was unreported income. (See id.) B. Plaintiffs’ 2012 Mileage Teresa testified that, in 2012, she was an operating room nurse at a surgery center in Eugene. She testified that she would work all day, then often go out on book-buying trips after work. Robert testified that he sometimes accompanied her on the book-buying trips. Teresa testified that Plaintiffs typically visited all of the St. Vincent de Paul shops in Eugene and sometimes visited shops in surrounding areas, such as Corvallis and Albany. She testified that there were 11 St. Vincent de Paul shops in Eugene. Teresa testified that Plaintiffs sometimes drove to IKEA in Portland to purchase bookshelves and other furniture for the store. She testified that she also made trips to Plaintiffs’ store in Newport to deliver the books.

Teresa testified that she kept a calendar in her car and would record her business trips on that calendar. She testified that she would transcribe the handwritten log into a computerized record. Robert testified that Plaintiffs were unable to locate their handwritten 2012 mileage log. He thought it may have been destroyed in a flood in the bookstore. Teresa initially testified that the mileage she recorded was beginning and ending at Plaintiffs’ home in Marcola. She later testified that she misunderstood the question; in fact, her reported mileage did not include travel between Plaintiffs’ home and the surgery center.

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