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recycling. Becker purportedly discussed the transactions with
Canno, who apparently was familiar with the plastics industry,
but Canno was not hired by Becker to investigate PI and the
Sentinel EPE recycler, never saw a Sentinel EPE recycler, and
never prepared any kind of formal, written analysis of the
venture. Accordingly, we consider petitioners' arguments with
respect to the Mollen case inapplicable under the circumstances
of these cases.
Petitioners also rely on two recent decisions by the Court
of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit that reversed this Court's
imposition of the negligence additions to tax in non-plastics
recycling cases: Durrett v. Commissioner, 71 F.3d 515 (5th Cir.
1996), affg. in part and revg. in part T.C. Memo. 1994-179; and
Chamberlain v. Commissioner, 66 F.3d 729 (5th Cir. 1995), affg.
in part and revg. in part T.C. Memo. 1994-228. The taxpayers in
the Durrett and Chamberlain cases were among thousands who
invested in the First Western tax shelter program involving
alleged straddle transactions of forward contracts. In the
Durrett and Chamberlain cases, the Court of Appeals for the Fifth
Circuit concluded that the taxpayers reasonably relied upon
professional advice concerning tax matters. In other First
Western cases, however, the Courts of Appeals have affirmed
decisions of the Tax Court imposing negligence additions to tax.
See Chakales v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1994-408 (reliance on
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