- 9 -9
on the attorney constituted reasonable cause. The Court rejected
this argument and held for the United States. United States v.
Boyle, supra at 249-250.
Applying agency principles to the relationship between the
taxpayer and the attorney, the Supreme Court observed: "Congress
has placed the burden of prompt filing on the executor, not on
some agent or employee of the executor. * * * That the
attorney, as the executor's agent, was expected to attend to the
matter does not relieve the principal of his duty to comply with
the statute." Id. at 249-250. A narrow exception exists where a
taxpayer is physically incapacitated and thus unable to file.
Id. at 248 n.6, 253 (Brennan, J., concurring); Harbour v.
Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1991-532.
Petitioner contends that there is a fundamental difference
between filing a return and filing an extension request. See
Fleming v. United States, 648 F.2d 1122, 1127 (7th Cir. 1981)
(Cudahy, J., dissenting). He argues that, in the case of an
individual income tax return, the taxpayer must sign the return
before it can be filed. See sec. 6061; sec. 1.6061-1(a), Income
Tax Regs.7 By contrast, an extension request does not require
the taxpayer to sign but rather provides, as an alternative, that
7Petitioner fails to acknowledge that a taxpayer's agent may
sign the return where the taxpayer is physically unable to sign,
absent from the United States for at least 60 days, or a
nonresident alien required to file a Form 1040NR. See secs.
1.6061-1(a), 1.6012-1(a)(5) and (b), Income Tax Regs.
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