- 6 -- 6 - taxpayer's effort to assess his proper tax liability. Stubblefield v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1996-537; sec. 1.6664- 4(b)(1), Income Tax Regs. Taxpayers are required to keep records sufficient to establish the amount of deductions or other matters required to be shown on their returns. Sec. 6001; sec. 1.6001-1(a), Income Tax Regs. Failure to maintain adequate records may constitute negligence. Schroeder v. Commissioner, 40 T.C. 30, 34 (1963). Generally the duty of filing an accurate return cannot be avoided by placing responsibility upon a third party. Metra Chem Corp. v. Commissioner, 88 T.C. 654, 662 (1987); Fortner v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1993-195. Reliance on the advice of a qualified adviser may demonstrate reasonable cause and good faith; however, the evidence must show that the taxpayer contacted a competent tax adviser and provided the adviser with all the necessary and relevant information. See Jackson v. Commissioner, 86 T.C. 492, 539-540 (1986), affd. 864 F.2d 1521 (10th Cir. 1989); sec. 1.6664-4(b)(1), Income Tax Regs. Petitioner's reliance on Robinson v. Commissioner, 51 T.C. 520 (1968), affd. in part and vacated in part per curiam 422 F.2d 873 (9th Cir. 1970), and other similar cases is misplaced. In Robinson, this Court sustained respondent's disallowance of various expenses for failure to comply with section 274 and the accompanying regulations but, nonetheless, held that the taxpayer was not liable for the addition to tax for negligence underPage: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011