Weiss v. Commissioner
United States Tax Court
129 T.C. 175, 129 T.C. No. 18 (2007)
- Written by Joe Cox, JD
Facts
Tobias and Gertrude Weiss (plaintiffs) reported $24,376 of qualified dividends on their 2005 income-tax return. However, the Weisses did not include those dividends within their taxable income. Instead, the Weisses purported to separately compute a 15 percent tax of $3,656 on the dividends and added that figure to the computed $68,609 of tax on the Weisses’ taxable income. However, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue (the commissioner) (defendant) found this calculation to be a math error and, after fixing several errors, found that the Weisses had taxable income of $315,532 and thus had a deficiency of $6,073. The Weisses filed suit, alleging they had correctly calculated the dividends and paid the appropriate tax. The government countered by arguing that the dividends should have been included in the Weisses’ taxable income, which would then have been used to figure the Weisses’ alternative minimum tax, as dividends are included within the gross income that is also included within taxable income.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Thornton, J.)
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