Curtis v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue

Full title: Laurel Ann CURTIS, Petitioner-Appellant, v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL…

Court: United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit

Date published: Mar 3, 2000

232 F.3d 893 (9th Cir. 2000)

Opinion

232 F.3d 893 (9th Cir. 2000) Laurel Ann CURTIS, Petitioner-Appellant, v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent-Appellee. No. 97-70052. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit March 3, 2000

Submitted January 12, 1999 ²

2 The panel unanimously finds this case suitable for decision without oral argument. See Fed. R.App. P. 34(a)(2).

Tax Ct. No. 11125-95

Editorial Note:

This opinion appears in the Federal reporter in a table titled "Table of Decisions Without Reported Opinions". (See FI CTA9 Rule 36-3 regarding use of unpublished opinions)

85 A.F.T.R.2d 2000

Appeal from the United States Tax Court.

Before LEAVY, MCKEOWN, and WARDLAW, Circuit Judges.

ORDER

The Memorandum Disposition filed January 21, 1999 is withdrawn, and the petition for rehearing is denied. Judge Leavy would deny the petition for rehearing without withdrawing the Memorandum Disposition.

MEMORANDUM ¹

1 This disposition is not appropriate for publication and may not be cited to or by the courts of this circuit except as may be provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.

Laurel Ann Curtis appeals pro se from a Tax Court judgment in favor of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue ("Commissioner") following a bench trial on Curtis's petition for redetermination of tax deficiency for the tax years 1983 through 1993. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 26 U.S.C. § 7482(a)(1), and we remand to the Tax Court for clarification of the basis of its findings.

The Commissioner's tax deficiency determination based upon unreported income is entitled to a presumption of correctness if that determination is supported by evidence sufficient to connect the taxpayer to the income-producing activity. See Rapp v. Commissioner, 774 F.2d 932, 935 (9th Cir.1985); Weimerskirch v. Commissioner, 596 F.2d 358, 360 (9th Cir.1979).

Here, the Tax Court found that "[t]he record ... does contain evidence supporting respondent's determination of unreported income." However, it did not elaborate further on the basis for its determination. Without knowing what evidence in the record the Tax Court relied upon, we cannot determine whether its finding is proper. We therefore remand the case to the Tax Court for clarification regarding which evidence it relied upon in its decision. See 26 U.S.C. § 7482(c)(1); Berry v. Commissioner, 254 F.2d 471, 475 (9th Cir.1957).

REMANDED for further proceedings in accordance with this opinion.

LEAVY, Circuit Judge, dissenting.

I would reverse the Tax Court's judgment because the evidence before the Tax Court was insufficient to support the Commissioner's deficiency determination.