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challenge to the validity of the underlying tax liability);
Landry v. Commissioner, 116 T.C. 60, 62 (2001).
Timely Filing for 1996
Petitioner claims that he timely filed his 1996 return.
Section 6651(a)(1) imposes an addition to tax for failure to file
a return on the date prescribed (determined with regard to any
extension of time for filing), unless the taxpayer can establish
that such failure is due to reasonable cause and not due to
willful neglect.
Petitioner claimed that he filed his original 1996 return
around August 1997. Petitioner testified that he filed three tax
returns for 1996, but that he no longer had any copies of the
returns he filed for 1996. Petitioner testified that he did not
mail his return via certified mail.
The Court is not required to accept petitioner’s
unsubstantiated testimony. See Wood v. Commissioner, 338 F.2d
602, 605 (9th Cir. 1964), affg. 41 T.C. 593 (1964). We found
petitioner’s testimony to be general, vague, conclusory, and/or
questionable in certain material respects. Under the
circumstances presented here, we are not required to, and
generally do not, rely on petitioner’s testimony to conclude that
he timely filed his 1996 return. See Lerch v. Commissioner, 877
F.2d 624, 631-632 (7th Cir. 1989), affg. T.C. Memo. 1987-295;
Geiger v. Commissioner, 440 F.2d 688, 689-690 (9th Cir. 1971),
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