Johnny Weimerskirch v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue

The Commissioner issued a 90-day letter claiming that Weimerskirch had not reported income he allegedly received from selling heroin. Weimerskirch petitioned the Tax Court for redetermination of the deficiency. 26 U.S.C. § 7442 , et seq. After the Tax Court upheld the deficiency determination, Weimerskirch appealed to this court. 26 U.S.C. § 7482 .

The Tax Court held that Weimerskirch had failed to rebut the Commissioner’s presumption of correctness which attaches to a deficiency determination. Johnny Weimer-skirch, 67 T.C. 672 (1977). We find that the Commissioner was not entitled to rely solely upon the presumption of correctness and reverse.

FACTS

Weimerskirch reported income of $5,762.00 on his income tax return for 1972. The Commissioner issued a statutory notice of deficiency claiming that Weimerskirch had $24,608.00 of additional income which he had failed to report. This resulted in a total tax liability of $8,994.00 plus a penalty of $1,453.75. Weimerskirch petitioned the Tax Court for a redetermination of the deficiency.

Little in the way of substantive evidence was introduced at trial to either prove or disprove what Weimerskirch’s taxable income was for 1972.…