- 9 - 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...)Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011