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(1985). Petitioner’s failure to file is due to reasonable cause
if he exercised ordinary business care and prudence and was,
nevertheless, unable to file his return within the time
prescribed by law. Sec. 301.6651-1(c)(1), Proced. & Admin. Regs.
The reasons offered by petitioner for his failure to timely
file his returns and pay his income taxes are (1) his marital
troubles, which concluded in divorce, and (2) his financial
setbacks caused by his ex-wife’s spending habits and his
deployment to Saudi Arabia during Operation Desert Shield/Storm,
as a reservist, from November, 28, 1990, until June 29, 1991.
In defense of respondent’s refusal to abate the late-filing
and late-payment additions to tax, respondent states in his
posttrial brief filed with the Court the following:
With respect to his marital troubles, petitioner
failed to establish how the illness of his wife, and
his eventual divorce from her, prevented him from
timely filing and paying his taxes over a four year
period, i.e., from April 1997 through May of 2001.
Petitioner did not allege, for example, that during
this four year stretch he was unable to function due to
an emotional or physical disability connected to his
troubled marriage. The evidence is to the contrary.
During this time, petitioner was fully able to carry
out the duties of an attorney representing clients in
criminal matters, as well as manage his sole practice
on a day to day basis. Moreover, petitioner was not
hospitalized or otherwise incapacitated during this
period.
In this regard it is important to note that it is
only after the revenue officer assigned to the case
contacted petitioner, requested his delinquent income
tax returns, and commenced collection activities, that
petitioner came forward and filed his returns during
2001. This evidence tends to negate that petitioner’s
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