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underpayment of tax attributable to negligence or disregard of
rules or regulations. The penalty under section 6662(a) applies
only where a return has been filed. See sec. 6664(b). We
therefore must determine whether the disclaimer 1040 constitutes
a valid return.
Generally, pursuant to section 6011(a), taxpayers are
required to file returns that conform to the forms and
regulations prescribed by the Secretary. See sec. 1.6011-1(a),
Income Tax Regs. The Form 1040 is the form prescribed by the
Secretary for use by individual taxpayers in filing returns. See
Steines v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1991-588.
Section 6065 requires returns to contain or be verified by a
written declaration that they are made under the penalties of
perjury. To facilitate a taxpayer’s compliance with this
requirement, the Form 1040 contains a preprinted jurat.3 By
signing the jurat included within the Form 1040, a taxpayer
satisfies the requirement that his return be executed under
penalty of perjury. See Sloan v. Commissioner, 102 T.C. 137,
146-147 (1994), affd. 53 F.3d 799 (7th Cir. 1995); Sochia v.
Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1998-294.
The U.S. Supreme Court has also held that certain documents
3 The jurat is the portion of the Form 1040 which reads:
“Under penalties of perjury, I declare that I have examined this
return and accompanying schedules and statements, and to the best
of my knowledge and belief, they are true, correct, and
complete.”
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