Cir

FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

STANLEY T. JOHNSON; CONSTANCE 

JOHNSON,

No. 04-72322 Petitioners-Appellants, v.  Tax Ct. No. 7415-

COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL

OPINION

REVENUE,

Respondent-Appellee.  Appeal from a Decision of the United States Tax Court

Argued and Submitted February 15, 2006—San Francisco, California

Filed March 28, 2006

Before: Procter Hug, Jr., Arthur L. Alarcón, and M. Margaret McKeown, Circuit Judges.

Opinion by Judge Alarcón

3381 3384 JOHNSON v. CIR

COUNSEL

Heidi Parry Stern, Beckley Singleton, Chtd., Las Vegas, Nevada, for the petitioners-appellants.

John Schumann, United States Department of Justice, Tax Division, Washington, DC, for the respondent-appellee.

OPINION

ALARCÓN, Circuit Judge:

Stanley T. Johnson and his present wife, Constance John- son (“Appellants”), appeal from the United States Tax Court’s decision that there is a deficiency in income tax due from them for the taxable year 1997. The court has jurisdiction pur- suant to 26 U.S.C. § 7482. The gravamen of Appellants’ argu- ment is that Internal Revenue Code (“I.R.C.”) § 71, as amended in…