Gladys T. Geiger v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue

The Commissioner of Internal Revenue determined deficiencies in the income tax returns of Gladys Geiger for the years 1959, 1960 and 1961. The Tax Court affirmed and Geiger has appealed.

The Commissioner’s determination was presumptively correct. Herbert v. C.I.R., 377 F.2d 65 (9th Cir. 1967). The burden rested upon the taxpayer to prove that she was entitled to business expense deductions in excess of those allowed by the Commissioner and that moneys she had received but had not reported were not taxable as income.

The taxpayer's evidence, however, consisted principally of her own testimony that the deductions she had claimed were correct and that the unreported amounts were not taxable to her in their entirety. She offered no business records, checks or receipts to prove that the sums claimed as deductions were actually spent and no documentary evidence to substantiate that any claimed expenditures were for a business purpose. Nor did she offer any explanation as to why she had not reported the moneys she admitted receiving.

Geiger now maintains that her uncontradicted testimony, plus that of her accountant, sustained her burden and rebutted the presumption. However, evidence…