- 80 -
If an extension of time to file is deemed invalid, it will
not extend the due date of the return, and the taxpayer must show
that the failure to file a return by the original due date was
due to reasonable cause and not due to willful neglect. Crocker
v. Commissioner, 92 T.C. 899, 912 (1989). An extension of time
to file may be deemed invalid if the taxpayer did not make a bona
fide and reasonable estimate of his tax liability using the
information available at the time of the extension request. Id.
at 908. Good faith reliance on the advice of a tax return
preparer, who has been fully apprised of all relevant facts, may
show that the taxpayer made a bona fide and reasonable estimate
of tax liability. See O'Sullivan v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo.
1994-395. In addition, "The fact that we have come to a
substantive conclusion about the * * * issue different from that
of petitioners does not of itself indicate that petitioners filed
their extension request with a lack of due care or reasonable
cause". Id.
Alice Berger testified, and we believe, that she relied on
her accountant to prepare her extensions and returns for 1989.
She was receiving fairly sophisticated tax advice, even if
it turned out, as we have seen, that the advice was wrong in
various important respects. We would not expect a former
housewife, inexperienced in business, financial, or tax matters,
to prepare a rider to the 1988 joint return, citing legal
23(...continued)
not liable for this addition to tax.
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