text:                           T.C. Summary Opinion 2016-62
  
  
  
                           UNITED STATES TAX COURT
  
  
  
                   BETTY JEAN SPENCER, Petitioner v.
             COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent
  
  
  
        Docket No. 6024-13S.                          Filed September 26, 2016.
  
  
  
        Betty Jean Spencer, pro se.
  
        William J. Gregg, for respondent.
  
  
  
                                SUMMARY OPINION
  
  
        CHIECHI, Judge: This case was heard pursuant to the provisions of section
  
  7463 of the Internal Revenue Code in effect when the petition was filed.1
  
  
        1
          Hereinafter, all section references are to the Internal Revenue Code (Code)
  in effect for the year at issue. All Rule references are to the Tax Court Rules of
                                                                          (continued...)
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  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.
  
        Respondent determined a deficiency of $19,220 in petitioner’s Federal
  
  income tax for her taxable year 2010.
  
        The issue remaining for decision for petitioner’s taxable year 2010 is
  
  whether petitioner is entitled to a deduction under section 170(a) with respect to
  
  certain claimed noncash charitable contributions. We hold that she is not.
  
                                      Background
  
        Some of the facts have been stipulated and are so found.
  
        At the time petitioner filed the petition in this case, she resided in Virginia.
  
        Petitioner and Steven M. Chapman jointly filed Form 1040, U.S. Individual
  
  Income Tax Return, for their taxable year 2010 (2010 return).2 Petitioner attached
  
  to that return Schedule A, Itemized Deductions, in which she claimed, inter alia, a
  
  charitable contribution deduction with respect to total claimed noncash charitable
  
  contributions of $57,000 (certain claimed noncash charitable contributions).
  
  
  
  
        1
         (...continued)
  Practice and Procedure.
        2
          This case involves only petitioner. For convenience, we shall refer only to
  petitioner when describing the contents of the 2010 return.
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        Petitioner included with the 2010 return four Forms 8283, Noncash
  
  Charitable Contributions (Form 8283). Petitioner did not include with the 2010
  
  return Section A, Donated Property of $5,000 or Less and Certain Publicly Traded
  
  Securities, of those respective Forms 8283. Instead, petitioner included with that
  
  return only Section B, Donated Property Over $5,000 (Except Certain Publicly
  
  Traded Securities) (section B),3 of those respective Forms 8283.
  
        There are four parts in section B of each Form 8283. Petitioner set forth
  
  certain information only in part I and in part IV of each Form 8283. In Part I,
  
  Information on Donated Property (part I), of one of those Forms 8283, petitioner
  
  claimed a deduction of $6,000 for “CLOTHING” that she claimed she had
  
  purchased for $9,000 and had donated to Antioch Baptist Church when that
  
  property was in “EXCELLENT” condition.4 In part I of another Form 8283,
  
  petitioner claimed a deduction of $17,000 for “CLOTHING, FURNITURE, AND
  
  SMALL APPLIANCES” that she claimed she had purchased for $20,000 and had
  
  
        3
         Instructions in section B state that a taxpayer must show in that section
  “only items (or groups of similar items) for which * * * [the taxpayer] claimed a
  deduction of more than $5,000 per item or group”.
        4
         Petitioner showed the name of the claimed donee of her claimed
  contributions in Part IV, Donee Acknowledgement, of section B of each of the
  four Forms 8283 that petitioner included with the 2010 return. No part IV of
  section B of any Form 8283 contained an acknowledgement by each of those
  claimed donees of petitioner’s claimed contributions.
                                          -4-
  
  donated to Goodwill of Greater Washington (Goodwill) when that property was in
  
  “EXCELLENT” condition.5 In part I of a third Form 8283, petitioner claimed a
  
  deduction of $18,000 for “LARGE FURNITURE” that she claimed she had
  
  purchased for $20,000 and had donated to AMVETS National Service Foundation
  
  when that property was in “EXCELLENT” condition. In part I of the fourth Form
  
  8283, petitioner claimed a deduction of $16,000 for “CLOTHING AND SMALL
  
  APPLIANCES” that she claimed she had purchased for $20,000 and had donated
  
  to National Children’s Center when that property was in “EXCELLENT”
  
  condition.6
  
        Respondent issued a notice of deficiency to petitioner for her taxable year
  
  2010 (notice). In that notice, respondent determined, inter alia, to disallow
  
  petitioner’s claimed deduction under section 170(a) with respect to certain claimed
  
  noncash charitable contributions.
  
  
  
  
        5
         Petitioner did not follow the instructions set forth in section B when she
  included together in that section in one of those forms “CLOTHING,
  FURNITURE, AND SMALL APPLIANCES”, which are not similar. See supra
  note 3. As a result, it is not clear from the record whether petitioner’s claimed
  value of any of those dissimilar items was greater than $5,000.
        6
            See supra note 5.
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                                       Discussion
  
        Petitioner bears the burden of establishing that the determinations in the
  
  notice that remain at issue are erroneous. See Rule 142(a); Welch v. Helvering,
  
  290 U.S. 111, 115 (1933). Deductions are a matter of legislative grace, and
  
  petitioner bears the burden of proving entitlement to any deduction claimed. See
  
  INDOPCO, Inc. v. Commissioner, 503 U.S. 79, 84 (1992). The Code and the
  
  regulations thereunder required petitioner to maintain records sufficient to
  
  establish the amount of any deduction claimed. See sec. 6001; sec. 1.6001-1(a),
  
  Income Tax Regs.
  
        It is petitioner’s position that she is entitled to a deduction under section
  
  170(a) with respect to certain claimed noncash charitable contributions. In
  
  support of her position, petitioner relies on her testimony and certain documents,
  
  including four Forms 8283 that she included with the 2010 return, seven
  
  “DONATION RECEIPTS” (Goodwill donation receipts) that Goodwill gave her,
  
  and certain invoices relating to the purchase of certain furniture (furniture
  
  invoices). (We shall refer collectively to the documents on which petitioner relies
  
  as petitioner’s claimed substantiation documents.)
  
        With respect to petitioner’s testimony, we found her testimony to be in
  
  certain material respects uncorroborated and self-serving. We shall not rely on
                                           -6-
  
  petitioner’s testimony to establish her position that she is entitled to a deduction
  
  under section 170(a) with respect to certain claimed noncash charitable
  
  contributions. See, e.g., Tokarski v. Commissioner, 87 T.C. 74, 77 (1986).
  
        With respect to petitioner’s claimed substantiation documents, although
  
  each Form 8283 that petitioner included with the 2010 return showed that she had
  
  purchased all of the noncash property that she claims she donated to charity, she
  
  acknowledged during her testimony that she had inherited some of that property.
  
  Petitioner also acknowledged during her testimony that Goodwill did not complete
  
  the Goodwill donation receipts, which were presigned and were the only receipts
  
  or written acknowledgments that she had for any of the noncash property that she
  
  claims she donated to a charity during 2010. Instead, she completed the Goodwill
  
  donation receipts after a Goodwill employee gave her each of the seven Goodwill
  
  donation receipts that she introduced into the record at trial.7 Turning finally to
  
  the furniture invoices, we are satisfied that those invoices showed that petitioner
  
  purchased certain furniture described therein for the purchase prices shown
  
  therein. However, we are not satisfied from those furniture invoices or from any
  
  
        7
         Petitioner completed each of the Goodwill donation receipts that Goodwill
  gave her by showing, inter alia, her name, a description of the item(s) that she
  claims she donated to Goodwill, and the date on which she claims she made each
  such donation.
                                           -7-
  
  other part of the record that during 2010 petitioner donated any or all of the
  
  furniture described in those invoices to a charity. We shall not rely on petitioner’s
  
  claimed substantiation documents to establish petitioner’s position that she is
  
  entitled to a deduction under section 170(a) with respect to certain claimed
  
  noncash charitable contributions.
  
        Section 170(a) allows a deduction for any charitable contribution, as defined
  
  in section 170(c), that is made during a taxable year. A taxpayer claiming a
  
  deduction under section 170(a) must satisfy certain statutory and regulatory
  
  requirements. (We shall refer collectively to the statutory and regulatory
  
  requirements as the charitable contribution deduction requirements.) See sec.
  
  170(a), (c), (f); secs. 1.170A-1, 1.170A-13(a)-(c), Income Tax Regs. The
  
  charitable contribution deduction requirements that a taxpayer must satisfy vary
  
  depending on (1) whether the claimed contribution consists of money or property
  
  other than money and (2) the value of the contribution. See sec. 170(a), (c), (f);
  
  secs. 1.170A-1, 1.170A-13(a)-(c), Income Tax Regs. On the record before us, we
  
  find that petitioner has failed to carry her burden of establishing that she satisfies
  
  the applicable charitable contribution deduction requirements with respect to
  
  certain claimed noncash charitable contributions.
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          On the record before us, we find that petitioner has failed to carry her
  
  burden of establishing that she is entitled for her taxable year 2010 to a deduction
  
  under section 170(a) with respect to certain claimed noncash charitable
  
  contributions.
  
          We have considered all of the contentions and arguments of the parties that
  
  are not discussed herein, and we find them to be without merit, irrelevant, and/or
  
  moot.
  
          To reflect the foregoing and respondent’s concessions,
  
  
                                                  Decision will be entered under Rule
  
                                           155.
  