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cause. Petitioner points to a letter from his attorney dated
June 14, 1990, in which she states that she is in the process of
preparing returns for 1984, 1985, and 1987, and that, upon
completion of those returns, she “will go back and finish 1983 *
* *, 1986, 1988 and 1989.” Both petitioner’s attorney and the
Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Philadelphia Service Center later
confirmed that she never filed a 1988 return for petitioner.
There is no record as to when petitioner might have given
his attorney the records needed to prepare his 1988 return. The
fact that, as of June 14, 1990, she had not even begun to prepare
the return indicates that petitioner could not have believed in
good faith that it would be timely filed by April 17, 1989.
Moreover, even if we were able to find such good faith reliance
by petitioner, it would not constitute “reasonable cause” for
purposes of section 6651(a). “The failure to make a timely
filing of a tax return is not excused by the taxpayer’s reliance
on an agent, and such reliance is not ‘reasonable cause’ for a
late filing under � 6651(a)(1).” United States v. Boyle, 469
U.S. 241, 252 (1985). Nor did the mere fact of petitioner’s
incarceration at the time his 1988 return was due constitute
reasonable cause for his failure to file the return. See
Llorente v. Commissioner, 74 T.C. 260, 268-269 (1980), affd. in
part and revd. in part on another issue 649 F.2d 152 (2d Cir.
1981). Therefore, we sustain respondent’s imposition of a
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