Mona Lisa

The world's most famous painting is arguably Leonardo Da Vinci's "Mona Lisa." Though relatively little is known about Lisa Gherardini del Giocondo, the subject of the painting, she is a very classy woman, if only by dint of Da Vinci's painting (and probably was more than a little bit classy in life).

Not so with one of her namesakes. The U.S. Tax Court case of Mona Lisa Herrington v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2011-73, is the tale of a poor excuse for a woman who was abused by a poor excuse for a man, but who prevailed in Tax Court (against a poor excuse for IRS case management) on her contention that the money her abuser expropriated from her business constituted a deductible theft loss.

That this Mona Lisa was in the business of tax return preparation with her H & R Block franchise, and that she had in a separate criminal proceeding pleaded guilty to willfully failing to file her own tax returns, does not alter the situation except to make it more grave.

So read it and enjoy it, and remember that the deadline for filing your tax returns is fast approaching (I received my refund earlier this week, thank you).


The case is Mona Lisa Herrington v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2011-73.