- 55 -
1989 and 1990 returns by April 15, 1990, and April 15, 1991,
respectively.26 See sec. 6072(a); Crocker v. Commissioner, 92
T.C. at 911. Petitioners filed Federal income tax returns for
1989 and 1990 dated October 15, 1990, and October 14, 1991,
respectively. Thus, we hold that they failed to file timely
their return for each of the years at issue.27
Although petitioners' argument is not entirely clear, they
appear to contend that, assuming arguendo that their application
for automatic extension for each of the years at issue were to be
declared invalid, they nonetheless should not be liable for each
such year for the addition to tax for failure to file timely
their return. Specifically, petitioners appear to contend that
their failure to file timely was due to reasonable cause, and not
due to willful neglect, because of the unavailability and com-
plexity of their financial records. Unavailability of records
does not necessarily establish reasonable cause for failure to
file timely. See Electric & Neon, Inc. v. Commissioner, 56 T.C.
26 Petitioners filed an application for an additional extension
of time to file their 1990 return dated Aug. 9, 1991. Since we
have found petitioners' application for automatic extension for
that year to be invalid, the subsequently filed application for
an additional extension of time to file is also invalid. See
Clayton v. Commissioner, 102 T.C. 632, 651 (1994).
27 Petitioners did not file an application for an additional
extension of time to file their 1989 return. Assuming arguendo
that petitioners' application for automatic extension for 1989
had been valid, their 1989 return would nonetheless not have been
filed timely, since they would have been required to, but did
not, file that return by Aug. 15, 1990. See sec. 1.6081-4(a),
Income Tax Regs.
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