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OPINION
Petitioner has the burden of proving that respondent’s
determinations under sections 6651(a)(1) and 6654(a) are wrong.4
Rule 142(a); Welch v. Helvering, 290 U.S. 111, 115 (1933).
Petitioner claims that his failure to file a return for any
of the years at issue and to pay estimated tax for each such year
is attributable to his “mental illness caused by failure of U.S.
Government to acknowledge that violation of constitutional and
civil rights of Japanese Americans during World War 2 has debili-
tating and demoralizing effects on the child (Edward Kazuo Ozaki)
of U.S. concentration camp survivors.”
With respect to the determinations at issue under section
6651(a)(1), mental illness or mental incapacity can constitute
reasonable cause for the failure to file a return. Williams v.
Commissioner, 16 T.C. 893, 906 (1951); see Carlson v. United
States, 126 F.3d 915, 922 (7th Cir. 1997) (addressing reasonable
cause exception with respect to failure to pay tax under section
6651(a)(2)). However, if the taxpayer is able to exercise
4The record does not disclose when respondent commenced an
examination of each of the years at issue. We proceed on the
assumption that respondent’s examination of each of those years
commenced after July 22, 1998, and that sec. 7491(c) is applica-
ble in the instant case.
The record establishes that petitioner did not file a tax
return or pay estimated tax for any of the years at issue. We
conclude that respondent has satisfied respondent’s burden of
production under sec. 7491(c).
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Last modified: May 25, 2011