Samohin v. Commissioner

1986 T.C. Memo. 164, 51 T.C.M. 912, 1986 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 443
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedApril 22, 1986
DocketDocket Nos. 8223-82, 33575-83.
StatusUnpublished

This text of 1986 T.C. Memo. 164 (Samohin 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
Samohin v. Commissioner, 1986 T.C. Memo. 164, 51 T.C.M. 912, 1986 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 443 (tax 1986).

Opinion

JOHN A. SAMOHIN and HRYSOULA SAMOHIN, Petitioners v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent
Samohin v. Commissioner
Docket Nos. 8223-82, 33575-83.
United States Tax Court
T.C. Memo 1986-164; 1986 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 443; 51 T.C.M. (CCH) 912; T.C.M. (RIA) 86164;
April 22, 1986.
Fred A. Foley, for the petitioners.
Patrick J. Gray, Jr., for the respondent.

SWIFT

MEMORANDUM FINDINGS OF FACT AND OPINION

SWIFT, Judge: In timely statutory notices of deficiency and by amendment to his answers herein, respondent determined deficiencies in petitioners' Federal income tax liabilities and additions to tax, as follows:

DocketAdditions to Tax
No.YearDeficienciesI.R.C. Section 6653(a) 1
8223-821978$94,075.00$4,658.78
33575-831979145,198.107,259.90
33575-83198014,473.652,864.08
*444

These cases were consolidated by Order of this Court dated September 28, 1984.

After a partial settlement, the primary issues remaining for decision are: (1) Whether petitioners received unreported income from their sole proprietorship in 1978 and 1979 in excess of amounts conceded; and (2) whether petitioners are liable for the additions to tax set forth above.

FINDINGS OF FACT

Some of the facts have been stipulated and are so found. Petitioners John A. Samohin ("John") and Hrysoula Samohin ("Hrysoula") are husband and wife and resided in Sterling Heights, Michigan, when they filed the petitions herein. Petitioners timely filed joint Federal income tax returns for 1978, 1979, and 1980.

John is a native of Galate, Greece. He immigrated to the United States in 1967 at the age of 24. John was trained in Greece as a machinist and became employed in the United States in that capacity from 1967 through 1974 by, among others, Chrysler Corporation and Ford Motor Company. During those years, John became a citizen of the United States, accumulated a small savings,*445 and worked part time to establish his own machine shop. In 1974, John resigned his employment at Ford Motor Company, and with $18,000 in savings, he began to operate his own machine shop on a full-time basis as a sole proprietor. He did business under the name of John Sam's Tool Company (hereinafter referred to as "Sam's Tool Company"). On December 23, 1980, Sam's Tool Company was incorporated under the laws of the State of Michigan.

Sam's Tool Company specialized in making customized parts for machinery and equipment used in the automotive industry. During the years in issue, Sam's Tool Company won bids from and completed jobs for five customers, namely, Chevrolet Motor Company ("Chevrolet"), F. Joseph Lamb Company ("Lamb"), O'Keller Tool Company ("O'Keller Tool"), Michigan Precision Industries, Inc. ("MPI"), and Punchcraft Company ("Punchcraft"). As the proprietor of Sam's Tool Company, John prepared the bids, participated in all aspects of the manufacturing process, supervised 12 employees, and managed all other aspects of the business.

Hrysoula is a native of Athens, Greece. Her parents, Demetrius and Maria Kateri, had been the owners and proprietors of a retail furniture*446 store in Athens from the end of World War II until Demetrius Kateri's death in 1964. Many of the customers of the furniture store were U.S. military personnel stationed at a nearby U.S. military base. The military personnel often purchased furniture at the store and paid cash for the furniture with U.S. dollars. Because the value of the U.S. dollar was understood to be more stable than the value of the Greek drachma, Mr. and Mrs. Kateri accumulated the U.S. dollars earned in their business. Mr. and Mrs. Kateri agreed that the U.S. dollars they were able to save would be given to Hrysoula, their only child, as a dowry at the time of her marriage.

Upon the death of Demetrius in 1964, Mr. and Mrs. Kateri had accumulated U.S. $260,000. Mrs. Kateri inherited from her husband this money, as well as the furniture store, three apartments, and three parcels of vacant real property.

The U.S. $260,000 was kept in a locked chest in the attic of the Kateri home. In 1970, Hrysoula's mother showed her the money in the chest and explained to Hrysoula her intent eventually to give Hrysoula the U.S. $260,000. The money was wrapped in paper, tied in small bundles, and covered with old clothes. *447 The money consisted primarily of U.S. $50 and U.S. $100 bills, but smaller denomination bills also were included.

While vacationing in Greece in the summer of 1973, John met Hrysoula and shortly thereafter, in October of 1973, petitioners were married in Athens. At the time of the marriage, Maria Kateri gave Hrysoula approximately U.S. $50,000 as part of the dowry money, and she informed Hrysoula and John that the remaining U.S. $210,000 would be given to Hrysoula over a period of time, provided the marriage was successful. In traveling to the United States with her new husband, Hrysoula hid the U.S. $50,000 on her person because she understood it was illegal to transport large amounts of U.S. currency outside of Greece. After petitioners arrived in the United States, Hrysoula tied the $50,000 in small bundles and hid it in a two-foot-square box in a closet in petitioners' home In Michigan.

The remaining U.S.

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1986 T.C. Memo. 164, 51 T.C.M. 912, 1986 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 443, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/samohin-v-commissioner-tax-1986.