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Since the estate has failed to prove that the executrix received
any such advice from any professional or expert adviser, the
Court need not reach the question of whether the executrix could
have reasonably relied on such advice.
Moreover, while the executrix's lack of knowledge as to the
amount and value of Thomas Trust assets to eventually be
distributed to decedent's estate may have been beyond her
control, the Court does not believe that it was beyond her
control to ascertain the due date for filing the estate tax
return and to file timely an incomplete return, paying at least
that portion of the tax in a timely fashion and disclosing the
contingencies surrounding the assets in dispute. The Court is
not convinced that complete and full knowledge of the amount and
value of Thomas Trust assets to be distributed to the estate was
essential to filing a timely estate tax return.
The regulations require only that an estate tax return be
"as complete as possible". Sec. 20.6081-1(c), Estate Tax Regs.
The regulations further permit supplemental information affecting
the tax liability to be filed after the expiration of the
extension period. Id. As a general matter, the unavailability
5(...continued)
v. Commissioner, 21 T.C. 1012, 1019 (1954), affd. 225 F.2d 629
(10th Cir. 1955); Baclit v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1989-576;
Estate of Meredith v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1981-72.
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