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issue. Stubblefield v. Commissioner, supra. On this record, the
Court sustains respondent on the section 6662(a) accuracy-related
penalties for the 2 years at issue.
Section 6673(a) authorizes the Court to require a taxpayer
to pay to the United States a penalty not exceeding $25,000 when,
in the Court's judgment, proceedings have been instituted or
maintained by the taxpayer primarily for delay or where the
taxpayer's position in the proceeding is frivolous or groundless.
On this record, the Court considers petitioners' claim that they
should not be liable for the section 6662(a) penalties to be
frivolous and groundless. Petitioners knew that a substantial
portion of the itemized deductions at issue was false and could
not be sustained. Other circumstances noted above need not be
repeated here.
The function of this Court is to provide a forum to decide
issues relating to liability for Federal taxes. Any reasonable
and prudent person, under the facts presented to the Court,
should have known that the claimed deductions could not have been
sustained, and petitioners knew that. We do not and should not
countenance the use of this Court as a vehicle for a disgruntled
litigant to proclaim the wrongdoing of another, his return
preparer, as a basis for relief from a penalty that was
determined by respondent on facts that clearly are not
sustainable. Golub v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1999-288.
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