- 69 -
made their request more than 4 months after the trial of their
case. We are reluctant to find that respondent abused her
discretion in these cases in which she was not timely requested
to exercise it and where there is no direct evidence of any abuse
of administrative discretion. Haught v. Commissioner, supra; cf.
Wynn v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1995-609; Klieger v.
Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1992-734.
However, we do not decide this issue solely on petitioners'
failure timely to request waivers, but instead we have considered
the issue on its merits. Petitioners urge that they relied on
the respective offering materials, Becker, Green, and their tax
return preparers in deciding on the valuation claimed on their
tax returns. Petitioners contend that such reliance was
reasonable, and, therefore, that respondent should have waived
the section 6659 additions to tax. However, as we explained
above in finding petitioners liable for the negligence additions
to tax, petitioners' purported reliance on the offering materials
and their advisers was not reasonable.
The offering materials for the Partnerships contained
numerous warnings and caveats, including the likelihood that the
value placed on the recyclers would be challenged by the IRS as
being in excess of fair market value. Yet petitioners never
sought to resolve the numerous issues raised by the offering
materials. Becker possessed no special qualifications or
professional skills in the recycling or plastics industries and
Page: Previous 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 NextLast modified: May 25, 2011