- 10 - will be asserted in full against the estate of Mr. Lorenz and that Mrs. Lorenz is liable for a reduced fraud penalty at an amount of 20 percent. By agreeing that the fraud penalty applies both to Mrs. Lorenz and to the estate of Mr. Lorenz, they have each conceded that a part of their underpayment is due to fraud. Therefore, liability for the fraud penalty is joint and several because part of the underpayment is due to the fraud of each spouse. Sec. 6663(c); Meier v. Commissioner, supra. The parties agreed to a reduced rate for the fraud penalty for Mrs. Lorenz, but did not reduce the base to which the penalty applies for either petitioner. It follows that respondent properly calculated the fraud penalty for the estate of Mr. Lorenz by applying the 75-percent rate to Mr. and Mrs. Lorenz's total underpayment for each year in issue and for Mrs. Lorenz by applying a 20-percent rate to Mr. and Mrs. Lorenz's total underpayment for each year. 2. Petitioners' Arguments Petitioners contend that (a) the parties had previously orally agreed to apply the fraud penalty separately to the estate of Mr. Lorenz and Mrs. Lorenz based on only one-half of the underpayment, and the failure of the basis of settlement to so provide was a mutual mistake; (b) respondent's counsel knew that the estate could pay the difference between the 20 percent andPage: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011