1Unless otherwise indicated, all citations of sections refer

to the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C.) in effect for

the tax year at issue, and all citations of Rules refer to the

Tax Court Rules of Practice and Procedure.

T.C. Summary Opinion 2009-64

UNITED STATES TAX COURT

MOSES JOHNSON, Petitioner v.

COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent

Docket No. 23240-07S. Filed May 5, 2009.

Moses Johnson, pro se.

Olivia J. Hyatt, for respondent.

GUSTAFSON, Judge: This case was heard pursuant to the

provisions of section 74631 in effect when the petition was

filed. Pursuant to section 7463(b), the decision to be entered

is not reviewable by any other court, and this opinion shall not

be treated as precedent for any other case. 
- 2 -

2Exhibits 7 through 9 bear the suffix “-J” because

respondent initially proposed them as joint exhibits. However,

they were ultimately received into evidence on respondent’s

motion and over petitioner’s objection, so they are not joint

exhibits. To enable petitioner to compare the wage amounts for

2004 and 2005, which are confusingly similar, we cite the

exhibits in this opinion.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) determined a $1,534

deficiency in petitioner Moses Johnson’s 2005 Federal income tax. 

The issues for decision are: (i) whether Mr. Johnson had

unreported income in 2005 from five sources (ABC HR Services,

L.L.C., Augusta Temporaries, the Georgia Department of Labor,

Social Security, and the Georgia Bank & Trust Co.); and

(ii) whether income that Mr. Johnson earned and reported in 2004

was wrongly and duplicatively attributed to him in 2005. We find

that (i) Mr. Johnson did have unreported income in 2005 from

those five sources, and (ii) the income he earned and reported in

2004 was not wrongly and duplicatively attributed to him in 2005.

Background

Some of the facts have been stipulated and are so found. 

The stipulation of facts filed December 8, 2008, and the attached

Exhibits 1-J and 2-J are incorporated herein by this reference. 

Exhibits 3-J, 4-J, 5-P, and 6-P were received into evidence at

trial; and Exhibits 7-J, 8-J, and 9-J were received into evidence

by the Court’s order dated March 4, 2009.2 At the time that he

filed his petition, Mr. Johnson resided in Georgia.
- 3 -

3Unemployment compensation is taxable pursuant to

section 85.

4The International Paper payroll record (Ex. 9-J) shows

(continued...)

Mr. Johnson’s Income for 2004

Although the year at issue is 2005, the following facts for

tax year 2004 are relevant here. During 2004 Mr. Johnson

received $16,182.39 of income from Augusta Temporaries, as is

shown in its detailed payroll record (Ex. 8-J). Accordingly, his

employer (under the name Augusta Staffing) issued him a Form W-2,

Wage and Tax Statement (Ex. 7-J, second page), in the amount of

$16,182. On April 15, 2005, Mr. Johnson timely filed his 2004

Form 1040, U.S. Individual Income Tax Return (Ex. 7-J), on which

he reported as income the $16,182 shown on that Form W-2. There

is no dispute about this 2004 income or Mr. Johnson’s reporting

of it.

Mr. Johnson’s Income for 2005

During 2005 Mr. Johnson received (1) $145 of income from ABC

HR Services, L.L.C.; (2) $1,088 of unemployment compensation from

the Georgia Department of Labor;3 (3) $5,644 of Social Security

benefits, of which a portion is taxable pursuant to section 86;

(4) $22 of interest income from the Georgia Bank & Trust Co.;

(5) $6,809.61 from Augusta Temporaries (Ex. 6-P); and (6)

$16,624.48 of wages from International Paper, as is shown on its

detailed payroll record (Ex. 9-J).4
- 4 -

4(...continued)

gross wages of $17,027.27. However, it shows taxable wages of

$16,624.48, which corresponds to the $16,624 amount that appears

as wages in box 1 on the Augusta Staffing Form W-2.

On April 15, 2006, Mr. Johnson timely filed his 2005 Form

1040, on which he reported item 6 above--i.e., $16,624 as shown

on a Form W-2 (Ex. 5-P) issued by Augusta Staffing for

Mr. Johnson’s work at International Paper. However, he did not

report on his return items 1 through 5 listed above. Mr. Johnson

has stipulated that he received those unreported amounts, and it

is undisputed that he did not report them.

The IRS mailed Mr. Johnson a statutory notice of deficiency

for tax year 2005 on August 20, 2007, adjusting Mr. Johnson’s

income upward by $9,137 and determining an income tax deficiency

of $1,534. On October 9, 2007, Mr. Johnson timely filed his

petition in this Court seeking redetermination of that

deficiency. A trial was held on December 8, 2008, in Columbia,

South Carolina.

Discussion

I. Allegations of the Parties

Respondent determined that Mr. Johnson had unreported income

in 2005 from five sources and that the correction of this

omission increases Mr. Johnson’s income by $9,137. Mr. Johnson

admits that he had income from these sources in the amounts that

respondent determined and failed to report it. However, Mr.
- 5 -

5Mr. Johnson has neither claimed nor shown that he satisfied

the requirements of section 7491(a) to shift the burden of proof

to respondent with regard to any factual issue. He therefore

bears the burden of proof. See Rule 142(a)(1).

Johnson contends that a greater amount--approximately $16,000 of

income that he earned and reported in 2004--was wrongly and

duplicatively attributed to him in 2005, and thus, he was taxed

twice on the same income. Specifically, Mr. Johnson alleges that

Augusta Staffing erred in sending him the 2005 Form W-2 (Ex. 6-P)

which shows that he received $16,624.48 of income in 2005,

because (he says) he did not earn that amount in 2005. Instead,

Mr. Johnson argues that he earned that income in 2004 and that

Augusta Staffing mistakenly restated that same income on a

Form W-2 for 2005.

II. The 2005 Form W-2 Is Not Duplicative

Mr. Johnson is certainly right that “as a general

proposition taxpayers should not be twice taxed on the same

income”. See Seltzer v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1996-240, affd.

without published opinion 124 F.3d 205 (7th Cir. 1997). However,

Mr. Johnson bears the burden of proof,5 and he has failed to show

that all or a part of the $16,624 of income from Augusta Staffing

shown on the 2005 Form W-2 is duplicative of the $16,182 of

income from Augusta Staffing shown on the 2004 Form W-2. 
- 6 -

The only evidence that Mr. Johnson provided in support of

his contention that he did not receive the $16,624 of income from

Augusta Staffing in 2005 was his testimony: 

MR. JOHNSON: The $16,000 that year, I didn’t receive

it in ‘05. I received it in ‘04. That money I work in

04. I work from January through September ‘04. I was

laid off in ‘04. That’s when I received that money I

filed in ‘05.

THE COURT: So you’re saying that the company made a

mistake in issuing a 2005 W-2 in the amount of 16,624?

MR. JOHNSON: That’s what it seems, because the income

that I earned -- the income that I earned in ‘04 is

16,000, because I was laid off the job September 6. 

That’s why I do remember that, because I drew

unemployment. [Emphasis added.]

In contradiction of this testimony, however, the record

includes Forms W-2 from Augusta Staffing showing that Mr. Johnson

received $16,182 of income in 2004 (Ex. 7-J, second page) and

$16,624 of income in 2005 (Ex. 5-P). If the numbers on these

Forms W-2 had been identical, then Mr. Johnson’s allegation that

the 2005 amount is duplicative of the 2004 amount might have been

more convincing. However, the $442.09 difference between the

amounts shown on the two Forms W-2 demonstrates that Augusta

Staffing did not simply issue the same Form W-2 twice. That

difference is therefore some evidence that the 2005 Form W-2 was

not the result of a duplication error.

More important, the record includes payroll records for

Mr. Johnson’s employment in 2004 (Ex. 8-J) and 2005 (Ex. 9-J),

and these records show that he did indeed receive wages of
- 7 -

$16,182.39 in 2004 and wages of $16,624.48 in 2005--the same

amounts that appear on the two Forms W-2. These payroll records

show the pay periods during which Mr. Johnson worked and the

amounts that he was paid for those periods. The periods and

amounts shown for 2005 are not duplicates of those shown for

2004; they are entirely different. 

Conclusion

In view of this documentary evidence, Mr. Johnson’s

uncorroborated testimony is insufficient to carry his burden of

proof. We conclude that his recollection is faulty; and we hold

that, although he may have forgotten it, Mr. Johnson did receive

$16,624.48 of income from Augusta Staffing in 2005. We also hold

(as the parties have stipulated) that Mr. Johnson had unreported

income in 2005 from ABC HR Services, L.L.C., Augusta Temporaries,

the Georgia Department of Labor, Social Security, and the Georgia

Bank & Trust Co. in the amounts determined in the notice of

deficiency.

To reflect the foregoing,

Decision will be entered for

respondent.