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Petitioners argue that respondent erroneously failed to
waive the section 6659 additions to tax. Section 6659(e)
authorizes the Commissioner to waive all or part of the addition
to tax for valuation overstatement if taxpayers establish that
there was a reasonable basis for the adjusted bases or valuations
claimed on the returns and that such claims were made in good
faith. The Commissioner's refusal to waive a section 6659
addition to tax is reviewable by this Court for abuse of
discretion. Krause v. Commissioner, 99 T.C. at 179. Abuse of
discretion has been found in situations where the Commissioner's
refusal to exercise her discretion is arbitrary, capricious, or
unreasonable. See Mailman v. Commissioner, 91 T.C. 1079 (1988);
Estate of Gardner v. Commissioner, 82 T.C. 989 (1984); Haught v.
Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1993-58.
We note initially that petitioners did not request
respondent to waive the section 6659 additions to tax until well
after the trials of these cases. Petitioners each made their
requests approximately 4 months after the trials of their cases.
We are reluctant to find that respondent abused her discretion in
these cases when she was not timely requested to exercise it and
there is no direct evidence of any abuse of administrative
discretion. Haught v. Commissioner, supra; cf. Wynn v.
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