Estate of Michael J. Thomas - Page 9




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          disprove willful neglect, a taxpayer must prove that the late               
          filing did not result from a "conscious, intentional failure or             
          reckless indifference."  United States v. Boyle, supra at 245-              
          246.  A conscious or intentional failure exists when the taxpayer           
          was aware of the duty to file the return within the due date but            
          failed to file the return under circumstances that do not justify           
          such failure.  Reckless indifference is established when the                
          taxpayer was aware of the duty to file on time but disregarded a            
          known or obvious risk that the return might not be filed within             
          the due date.  Estate of Campbell v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo.               
          1991-615.                                                                   
               The due date of the estate's Federal estate tax return was             
          November 24, 1986, 9 months after the date of decedent's death.             
          Sec. 6075(a).  The estate failed to apply for an extension of the           
          due date to either file the return or pay the tax.4  The parties            


               4    The time for filing the estate tax return may be                  
          extended but normally for not more than 6 months, so the return             
          will be due not more than 15 months following the date of a                 
          decedent's death.  Sec. 6081(a); sec. 20.6081-1(a), Estate Tax              
          Regs.  Moreover, the time for payment of the amount of estate tax           
          shown, or required to be shown, can be extended for up to 12                
          months or, in cases of reasonable cause, up to 10 years.  Sec.              
          6161(a)(1) and (2).  The Court notes that the standards of                  
          reasonable cause for the failure to file, on the one hand, and              
          the failure to pay, on the other hand, are not identical.  United           
          States v. Boyle, 469 U.S. 241 (1985), involved the failure to               
          file and did not directly involve the failure to pay.  See Estate           
          of LaMeres v. Commissioner, 98 T.C. 294 (1992), where sec.                  
          6651(a)(1) and (2) was addressed repeatedly.  In the instant                
          case, the estate made no separate argument with respect to the              
                                                             (continued...)           





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