- 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 bePage: Previous 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 Next
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