- 31 - neglect and that the failure was due to reasonable cause. Higbee v. Commissioner, 116 T.C. at 447. Petitioners did not file their 1997 Federal income tax return until January 6, 2000, approximately 1 year and 9 months after the due date for that return. Petitioners did not introduce any evidence showing a reasonable cause for their failure to file timely their return. At trial, respondent’s counsel asked Mr. Assaad the reason for the untimely filing of the 1997 return. Mr. Assaad could not offer any explanation as to why the 1997 return was filed untimely, but testified: “I don’t know the reason, to be honest. The accountant always deal with my wife, because we changing Mr. Lopez to someone else. So I am not sure.” Mrs. Assaad did not testify at trial, and, since she is a party to this proceeding, any failure on her part, and consequently any reliance by Mr. Assaad on his wife, does not provide reasonable cause with respect to the section 6651(a)(1) addition to tax. Further, reliance on an accountant or tax return preparer to file timely a Federal income tax return generally does not establish reasonable cause or preclude willful neglect. See Schirle v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1997-552. Taxpayers have a personal and nondelegable duty to file a timely return, and reliance on an accountant to file a return does not provide reasonable cause for an untimely filing. United States v. Boyle, 469 U.S. 241, 249 (1985) (and cases cited thereat).Page: Previous 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 Next
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