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as due to “reasonable cause” if the taxpayer exercised ordinary
business care and prudence and nevertheless was unable to file
his return by the due date. Crocker v. Commissioner, 92 T.C.
899, 913 (1989); sec. 301.6651-1(c)(1), Proced. & Admin. Regs.
In the absence of competent tax advice, a mistaken belief on
the part of a taxpayer that no tax return was required under the
statute generally will not support reasonable cause for not
filing a tax return. Shomaker v. Commissioner, 38 T.C. 192, 202
(1962); French v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1991-196 (honest
belief that no tax was due does not constitute reasonable cause
where a taxpayer did not make good faith effort to ascertain
whether filing was necessary).
Where a taxpayer’s disability is raised as part of a
reasonable cause defense, we have looked to the severity of the
disability and the impact it had on the taxpayer’s life,
explaining that “significant psychiatric disorder and * * *
[mental incapacitation] during the period under consideration”,
Shaffer v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1994-618, or confinement to
various hospitals for “severe mental illness,” Carnahan v.
Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1994-163, affd. 70 F.3d 637 (D.C. Cir.
1995), may provide reasonable cause. But see Thomas v.
Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2005-258 (taxpayer suffering from
bilateral tendinitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, and depression did
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