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file a Federal income tax return unless the failure was due to
reasonable cause and not willful neglect. See sec. 6651(a). The
taxpayer bears the burden of proving that the failure is due to
reasonable cause and not willful neglect. See United States v.
Boyle, 469 U.S. 241, 245 (1985).4
Petitioners contend that they filed their 1992 return late
because petitioner worked 18 hours a day including Saturdays and
had about four vacations in 10 years. Working long hours does not
relieve a taxpayer of the duty to timely file a tax return. See
Logan Lumber Co. v. Commissioner, 365 F.2d 846, 854 (5th Cir. 1966)
(“If every taxpayer who * * * was too busy to file a return escaped
the penalty for failure to file, our tax system would soon
collapse.”), affg. and remanding on another issue T.C. Memo. 1964-
126. Petitioners have not shown that they had reasonable cause for
filing their 1992 return 3 years late.
Petitioners contend that they are not liable for the addition
to tax for failure to timely file under section 6651(a) even if
they do not prevail on the prepaid rent issue because they overpaid
their taxes for 1992. Petitioners rely on the chart attached to
petitioner’s September 17, 1999, letter to respondent’s counsel.
Petitioner testified that the chart is based on his records and his
4 The burden of proof provisions of sec. 7491 do not apply
here because the examination in this case began before July 22,
1998. See Internal Revenue Service Restructuring & Reform Act of
1998, Pub. L. 105-206, sec. 3001(c), 112 Stat. 685, 727.
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