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shouldered the bulk of that burden. In addition, Mr. Caruso
apparently suffers from high blood pressure and panic attacks.
The attacks “near incapacitated” him; however, he managed to
maintain full-time employment continually, despite the panic
attacks. Lastly, petitioners testified they finally sent
information to their certified public accountant (C.P.A.) in
February 2002 to complete their Federal income tax return. The
C.P.A., however, requested additional information. Before
petitioners could locate that information, Mr. Caruso lost his
job and had to “devote substantial time to finding new employment
and then starting a new job.” Therefore, he was not able to
locate the additional information for nearly a year.
Although petitioners experienced some difficult
circumstances, the Court is not convinced that their delay of
almost 3 years was due to reasonable cause and not “willful
neglect”. Petitioners employed a C.P.A. for the preparation of
their tax return. All that was required of petitioners was that
they find and send the appropriate documentation to their C.P.A.,
which they neglected to do in a timely fashion.
Petitioners were not incapacitated by Mr. Caruso’s health
problems. As previously noted, Mr. Caruso managed to maintain
full-time employment, leave what he considered to be a bad job,
and successfully find a new one during the 3 years. In addition,
the Court is not convinced that dealing with the affairs of Mr.
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