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a predecessor of section 6651(a)(1) provided explicitly that
reasonable cause could not be present where, as is the case
here, the taxpayer never filed a return, see Revenue Act of
1928, ch. 852, sec. 291, 45 Stat. 857,6 section 406 of the
Revenue Act of 1935, ch. 829, 49 Stat. 1027, removed the
prerequisite of a return for a finding of reasonable cause, and
it ceases to be a prerequisite today, see sec. 6651(a)(1); see
also Bowlen v. Commissioner, 4 T.C. 486, 494 (1944); Estate of
Kirchner v. Commissioner, 46 B.T.A. 578 (1942).
The knowledge that we do impute to petitioner with respect
to 1990 and 1991 is that this Court had held twice before
July 31, 1991, that a transfer of unencumbered property to a
pension plan in satisfaction of a funding obligation was not
reportable on a Federal excise tax return. Although the Court
of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reversed one of these
decisions before July 31, 1992, see Wood v. Commissioner,
955 F.2d 908 (4th Cir. 1992), the Court of Appeals for the
Fifth Circuit affirmed the other decision 2 months before that
6 Sec. 291 of the Revenue Act of 1928, ch. 852, 45 Stat.
857, provides:
In case of any failure to make and file a return
required by this title, within the time prescribed by
law * * *, 25 per centum of the tax shall be added to
the tax, except that when a return is filed after such
time and it is shown that the failure to file it was
due to reasonable cause and not due to willful neglect
no such addition shall be made to the tax.* * *
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