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failure is due to reasonable cause and not due to willful
neglect.
Respondent granted an extension of the payment due date
until February 4, 1994. See supra table 1. The estate tax
return, which was filed on February 4, 1994, included an election
to pay the estate taxes in installments as described in section
6166.
We consider first the validity of petitioner’s section 6166
election, and then whether petitioner had reasonable cause for
failing to pay when due the tax shown on petitioner’s estate tax
return.
A. Validity of Sec. 6166 Election
Petitioner contends that it “properly elected Section 6166
deferral on what should be construed by the Court to be a timely
filed return.” Respondent contends that this Court does not have
jurisdiction to review respondent’s determination that petitioner
is not eligible for section 6166 relief, relying on Estate of
Sherrod v. Commissioner, 82 T.C. 523 (1984), revd. on another
issue 774 F.2d 1057 (11th Cir. 1985); Estate of Meyer v.
Commissioner, 84 T.C. 560 (1985). Petitioner acknowledges Estate
of Sherrod, but urges us to follow Estate of La Meres v.
Commissioner, 98 T.C. 294 (1992), in which, petitioner maintains,
we “applied an administrative/equitable estoppel theory in ruling
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