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Filing tax returns and paying taxes was the last thing on their
minds. Mark's disregard for the consequences of his actions was
grossly negligent, and may even have been willful, but it does
not evidence any attempt to mislead, conceal, or otherwise
prevent payment of taxes owed. Webb v. Commissioner, 394 F.2d at
377.
Respondent would also have us hold that petitioners' use of
multiple bank accounts and extensive use of checks written to
cash was a continued effort to conceal income. Petitioners
openly conducted their affairs and concealed nothing, as attested
by the wealth of minutiae in the record that respondent gathered.
The sources of their funds were known and easy to trace: Mark's
salary and bonuses earned during the tax years in question, from
which substantial amounts of tax had been withheld and W-2 Forms
issued by his employers as required by law. Secs. 3101, 3402,
6051; cf. Stoltzfus v. United States, 398 F.2d 1002, 1005 (3d
Cir. 1968) (self-employed taxpayer who failed to file his tax
returns for 16 years, knew that he owed taxes in those years,
also did not make any payments of estimated tax during this
period, and further delayed filing returns out of fear of
prosecution, was denied refund for additions to tax due to
fraud). Mark's behavior did not contain the critical element of
deceit or concealment that the actions of the taxpayer in
Stoltzfus v. United States, supra, displayed. Mark did nothing
to prevent taxes from being withheld. Cf. Weber v. Commissioner,
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