Eddie M. and Cynthia L. Chandler - Page 17

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          reasonable cause exists and whether willful neglect is absent are           
          questions of fact to be decided based on all of the facts and               
          circumstances in a particular case.  Estate of DiRezza v.                   
          Commissioner, supra at 33.                                                  
               Petitioners contend that they are not liable for the                   
          addition to tax because petitioner's attorney in the drug                   
          prosecution advised petitioner not to file his 1990 income tax              
          return until the criminal case was concluded.  However, apart               
          from the fact that this contention would not shield Mrs. Chandler           
          from liability for the addition to tax because she was neither a            
          defendant nor otherwise implicated in the drug prosecution,6 we             
          are not persuaded, for the following reasons, that the defense of           
          reliance on professional advice is available to petitioners under           
          the particular facts of the present case.  See United States v.             
          Boyle, supra.                                                               
               First, we are again reminded of the familiar principle that            
          the Court is not required to accept uncritically a taxpayer's               
          self-serving testimony as gospel.  Tokarski v. Commissioner, 87             
          T.C. 74, 77 (1986).  The application of this principle in the               
          present case is especially significant because we cannot imagine            

          6 We note that Mrs. Chandler is a college graduate and a                    
          registered nurse by profession.  In 1989 and for part of 1990,              
          she worked part-time as a bookkeeper.  She impressed us as an               
          intelligent woman.  Given her relatively straightforward tax                
          situation, we can see no compelling reason why she could not have           
          prepared her own return or at least sought competent assistance             
          if petitioner had been unwilling to timely file a joint return.             
          See sec. 6013(b)(1).                                                        




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