- 12 - sufficient facts to respondent so that respondent knew or ought to have known of a possible mistake in the reporting of an item. Petitioner contends that it was unreasonable for respondent to rely on decedent's 1990 return because the $725,502 pension distribution was a highly material item. Petitioner contends that respondent chose not to audit decedent's 1990 return because of poor judgment. We disagree. The Commissioner may rely on representations in a return signed under penalties of perjury absent sufficient facts that provide actual or constructive knowledge to the contrary. Estate of Letts v. Commissioner, supra; Hughes & Luce, L.L.P. v. Commissioner, supra. The reasonableness of the Commissioner's reliance does not change, per se, because of the mere size of the item reported by the taxpayer on the return. We find that respondent did not know or have reason to know that decedent erroneously claimed rollover treatment for a portion of the 1990 pension distribution. Petitioner maintains that the pension distribution and attempted rollover were fully disclosed on decedent's 1990 return. However, decedent did not disclose the dates of either the pension distribution or attempted rollover which would have alerted respondent that the rollover was untimely. Decedent did not provide any facts to respondent that would have shown that she failed to timely roll over a portion of the 1990 pension distribution. We find that respondent reasonably relied on decedent's 1990 return, did notPage: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Next
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