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6651(a)(1) addition to tax for late filing should be abated for
petitioner’s 1999 tax year. We review de novo whether
petitioners are liable for the remaining additions to tax under
section 6651. See Downing v. Commissioner, supra at 29.
Section 6651(a)(1) Addition to Tax for Late Filing for 2000
Section 6651(a)(1) imposes an addition to tax for failure to
file a return by the prescribed date (taking into account any
extension of time for filing), unless it is shown that the
failure is due to reasonable cause and not due to willful
neglect. A showing of reasonable cause requires petitioners to
demonstrate they exercised “ordinary business care and prudence”
but were nevertheless unable to file the return within the
prescribed time. Sec. 301.6651-1(c)(1), Proced. & Admin. Regs.
For illness to constitute reasonable cause for failure to file,
petitioners must show that the surgery so incapacitated Richard
that they could not file their 2000 return on time.
Petitioners contend that Richard’s cardiac surgery in
January 1999 and consequent employment hiatus constitute
reasonable cause for petitioners’ failure to timely file their
2000 return. Petitioners do not assert, and the record does not
indicate, that Richard’s illness would have prevented Catherine
from tending to petitioners’ filing obligations. Moreover,
petitioners’ 2000 tax return was due (after extensions) on
October 15, 2001--about 2 years and 9 months after Richard’s
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