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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).
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