Arnold P. Mordkin and Cindy Mordkin - Page 52

                                       - 52 -                                         
          valid.  See Crocker v. Commissioner, supra at 911.                          
               In their respective applications for automatic extension for           
          1989 and 1990, petitioners estimated their respective tax liabil-           
          ities to be zero.  As filed, petitioners' 1989 and 1990 returns             
          showed tax liabilities of $66,958 and $70,742, respectively,                
          after taking account of the losses at issue.  Those returns                 
          reported that petitioners received salaries during 1989 and 1990            
          of $315,662 and $359,962, respectively.  Even assuming arguendo             
          that petitioners were entitled for each year at issue to a deduc-           
          tion for the loss in question here, petitioners have failed to              
          establish that they could have reasonably believed that the                 
          deduction for each such year for such loss, together with other             
          expenses for which they were entitled to deductions, were of such           
          a magnitude to cause their taxable income for each of those years           
          to be reduced to zero.  It is also significant that for the years           
          1987 and 1988, the two years preceding the taxable years at                 
          issue, petitioners' Federal income tax returns reflected positive           
          tax liabilities in the amounts of $16,405 and $62,341, respec-              
          tively.                                                                     
               Petitioners argue that the respective estimates of their               
          Federal income tax liabilities for 1989 and 1990 that were shown            
          in their respective applications for automatic extension for                
          those years were reasonable because they relied on the advice of            
          their accountant for the preparation of those applications.                 
          Petitioners' failure to estimate properly their taxes cannot be             




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