- 18 - which he was required to estimate his expected tax liability. Form 4868 provides that the taxpayer can estimate this amount so long as that estimate is reasonable. Petitioner stated on his 1989 Form 4868 that he expected his total tax liability for 1989 to be $9,404. After including the income from Mr. Hall, petitioner's total tax liability was determined to be $54,935. Petitioner's estimate of $18,650 on his 1990 Form 4868 was much closer to his total tax liability for 1990, which was determined to be $25,101. However, when petitioner filed his 1990 Federal income tax return, he stated that his total tax liability for 1990 was only $3,086 and claimed and received a refund of $15,564. On his 1991 Form 4868, petitioner stated that he expected his 1991 total tax liability to be $16,675, when, in fact, it was determined to be $76,583.83. Therefore, even though Form 4868 specifically provides that it is appropriate to make an estimate, in at least 2 of the 3 years in issue, petitioner obviously failed to include any reasonable amount of income from Mr. Hall in his estimated total tax liability. Finally, petitioner asserts that he is not liable for the fraud penalty because he relied on Mr. Pressley's advice in filing his original Federal income tax returns for 1989, 1990, and 1991. Generally, the duty of filing accurate returns cannot be avoided by placing responsibility on a tax return preparer. Metra Chem Corp. v. Commissioner, 88 T.C. 654, 662 (1987); BaileyPage: Previous 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Next
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