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funds to have knowingly disregarded debts due to the United
States. It is this knowing disregard of the debts due to the
United States that gives rise to liability under 31 U.S.C.
section 3713(b). See Leigh v. Commissioner, supra at 1109-1110.
No cases involving 31 U.S.C. section 3713(b) have been
brought to our attention where the fiduciary was put on notice of
possible debts due to the United States, made reasonable inquiry
of legal counsel, and then relied in good faith on erroneous
legal advice that there were no such debts. Respondent relies on
New v. Commissioner, supra at 679, where we stated:
If a fiduciary is put on inquiry, the fact that he
inquires wrongly or haphazardly is not enough and is no
defense. To absolve petitioner because his inquiry
turned out to be inadequate would be to reward the
careless fiduciary and to put a premium on rapid
cursory investigations. Once a fiduciary is put on
notice sufficient to put a reasonably prudent person on
inquiry, he thereafter pursues a unilateral inquiry at
his peril. Any other conclusion would make the
fiduciary the final arbiter of what the estate owed in
tax, a result entirely nullifying all effect of 31
U.S.C. sec. 192.
The situation described in the above quotation is clearly
different from the situation in the instant case. The actual
facts in New are also distinguishable in that the fiduciary in
that case was himself an attorney with experience in the
administration of estates, and his unilateral inquiries regarding
tax liabilities were found to be severely flawed.
Here, petitioner had no prior experience with the
administration of estates when he was put on notice of potential
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