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the same limited number of properties he had previously
advertised for sale. Finally, the taxpayer in Estate of La Meres
erroneously assumed that a proper section 6166 election had been
made and that its due date for payment was postponed. Id. at
313. Mr. Renbarger was fully aware that the estate’s payment due
date had passed.
V. Administrative Burden of Ongoing Litigation
We now address Mr. Renbarger’s claim that pending litigation
presented an extraordinary administrative burden on the estate.
An estate’s involvement in proceedings that might affect the
estate tax does not constitute reasonable cause for late payment.
See Estate of Duttenhofer v. Commissioner, 49 T.C. 200, 206-207
(1967) (pending litigation, even where the outcome would affect
the determination of an estate tax, is not reasonable cause for
failing to file an estate tax return timely), affd. per curiam
410 F.2d 302 (6th Cir. 1969); Porter v. Commissioner, 49 T.C.
207, 226-227 (1967) (pending litigation affecting the fair market
value of a taxpayer’s interest in property at the time of death
was not reasonable cause for untimely filing).
The estate has failed to show how litigation significantly
affected its administration. For instance, Mr. Renbarger
testified that he gave the cases to the estate’s attorney and
that “he gets after [them].” Further, only three of the six
cases were commenced before the payment due date, which is the
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