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Boyle, 469 U.S. 241, 245 (1985) (defining “willful neglect” as
the conscious, intentional failure or reckless indifference on
the part of the taxpayer to file a return, and “reasonable cause”
as the inability to file a return within the prescribed period of
time, despite having exercised ordinary business care and
prudence).
Petitioners failed to file a timely Federal income tax
return for each year. The record is nearly devoid of evidence
pertaining to this issue. When prompted by this Court to explain
the untimely filing of their returns, petitioner responded as
follows:
I’ll tell you exactly. Your Honor, I found that I was
paying more taxes than I was required to pay. And I,
negligence on my side, I began to ask for an extension
because I felt like this. You don’t have to pay penalty,
you don’t have to pay no late charge, as long as you have
money coming back. And you do it within three years.
There is no evidence that petitioners exercised reasonable
business care and prudence, and the above quote suggests that the
untimely filing of petitioners’ returns was due to petitioner’s
willful neglect. Petitioners have failed to carry their burden
of proof and respondent is sustained on this issue.
Section 6662 Penalty
Under section 6662, a penalty is imposed on that portion of
an underpayment of the tax required to be shown on a return if
the underpayment is due to negligence or disregard of rules or
regulations. Sec. 6662(a) and (b)(1). Negligence is defined to
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