- 18 - their belated efforts to comply with the law after the errors were discovered. They believe this conduct attests to their good faith and militates against an inference of willful neglect. According to Revenue Agent Petzold’s uncontroverted testimony, Shindel presented to her in 1993 a summary of payments for prior years. Shindel testified that he could not recall whether the payment summary was given to Petzold before or after she uncovered evidence of the payments herself and questioned him about them. She testified that it was she who raised the issue first. Compliance efforts made years after the obligations arose and only after prompting by an examining agent are not inconsistent with the inference that the original failure to comply was due to willful neglect. We conclude that petitioners have not shown that their failure to file returns and deposit tax for the years at issue was due to reasonable cause and not due to willful neglect. Accordingly, we sustain respondent’s determination that they are liable for additions to tax under sections 6651(a)(1) and 6656(a). Additions to Tax Under Section 6653(a) Respondent determined that petitioners are liable for the additions to tax under section 6653(a). For the taxable years at issue section 6653(a) provided for an addition to tax if any part of an underpayment of tax is due to negligence or intentional disregard of rules or regulations. For taxable years 1981Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011