Thomas E. and Joan A. Bennett - Page 38

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          CONSULT HIS OWN PROFESSIONAL ADVISERS.  Petitioners were                    
          experienced in pricing machinery, yet they did not make the                 
          effort personally to see a Sentinel EPE recycler or independently           
          investigate the machinery prior to investing in Empire.                     
               Petitioners' reliance on Krause v. Commissioner, supra,                
          Rousseau v. United States, supra, and Mauerman v. Commissioner,             
          supra, in support of their contention that they acted reasonably,           
          is misplaced.  In the Krause and Rousseau cases, the section 6659           
          addition to tax was disallowed in light of the respective                   
          holdings that the taxpayers in each case had a reasonable basis             
          for the valuations claimed on the tax returns or had reasonable             
          cause for the understatement on the return and were not subject             
          to negligence additions to tax.  In contrast, we have held that             
          petitioners herein did not act reasonably in claiming deductions            
          and investment tax credits related to Empire, that the errors on            
          petitioners' tax returns were caused by the excessive valuations            
          of the underlying machinery in the Empire transaction, that                 
          petitioners lacked reasonable cause for such overvaluation, and             
          that each petitioner is therefore liable for the negligence                 
          additions to tax under section 6653(a).  See supra pp. 14-28.               
          Accordingly, petitioners' reliance on the Krause and Rousseau               
          cases is misplaced.                                                         
               In Mauerman v. Commissioner, supra, the Tenth Circuit Court            
          of Appeals held that the Commissioner had abused her discretion             
          by failing to waive a section 6661 addition to tax.  Like section           




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