- 15 - ordinary Postal Service time for delivery of mail from Oakland, California, to Fresno, California. Petitioners admit they did not file their return by the proper filing date as extended but claim they mailed their return no later then October. Petitioners have failed to offer any evidence to contradict respondent’s above evidence, except unsubstantiated trial testimony.3 This Court finds petitioners’ testimony vague, unclear, and unpersuasive. We reject petitioners’ testimony that their 1998 return was filed in October of 1999 and that the copy of the envelope offered into evidence is not the proper envelope which contained petitioners’ 1998 return. Petitioners’ only dispute with the application of section 6651(a)(1) is with the date they filed their return. Petitioners failed to file timely their Federal income tax return for 1998. Petitioners have not argued, and there is nothing in the record to indicate, that such failure was due to reasonable cause and not to willful neglect. Respondent’s determination that petitioners filed their return in April of 2000, and therefore 3Sec. 7502 describes two examples of evidence that could have been used by petitioners. First, if any return is required to be filed by a certain date, and is received after that date, the date of the U.S. postmark shall be deemed the date of delivery. Second, if a document is sent by registered or certified mail, such registration or certification shall be prima facie evidence that the document was delivered on the date of the postmark. See sec. 7502.Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011