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Section 6011(a) requires taxpayers to file a return or
statement according to the forms and regulations prescribed by
the Secretary. The Supreme Court has on a number of occasions
considered the essential elements of a valid tax return, usually
for purposes of the statute of limitations. Badaracco v.
Commissioner, 464 U.S. 386 (1984); Commissioner v. Lane-Wells
Co., 321 U.S. 219 (1944); Zellerbach Paper Co. v. Helvering, 293
U.S. 172 (1934); Florsheim Bros. Drygoods Co. v. United States,
280 U.S. 453 (1930). The essential elements of a valid return,
developed from Supreme Court precedent, are set forth in Beard v.
Commissioner, 82 T.C. 766, 777 (1984), affd. 793 F.2d 139 (6th
Cir. 1986) as follows:
First, there must be sufficient data to calculate tax
liability; second, the document must purport to be a
return; third, there must be an honest and reasonable
attempt to satisfy the requirements of the tax law; and
fourth, the taxpayer must execute the return under
penalties of perjury. [Id. at 777.]
In this case, the question of whether the Form 1040NR is a
valid return turns on the third requirement, whether petitioner
made an honest and reasonable attempt to satisfy the requirements
of the tax law. At trial, petitioner admitted that at the time
he submitted the Forms 1040NR, he knew this Court had held his
arguments to be frivolous. Petitioner, nevertheless, attempted
to advance his frivolous tax protester arguments that he was not
a U.S. citizen by purposefully filing a nonresident alien form.
Petitioner is a well-educated, articulate, and knowledgeable
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