Koch v. Dept. of Rev.

CourtOregon Tax Court
DecidedJanuary 16, 2018
DocketTC-MD 160391N
StatusUnpublished

This text of Koch v. Dept. of Rev. (Koch v. Dept. of Rev.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Tax Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Koch v. Dept. of Rev., (Or. Super. Ct. 2018).

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.

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