- 24 - Court’s conclusions with respect to burden under section 7491(c) will be detailed infra in conjunction with our discussion of the section 6662(a) penalty. In a similar vein, section 6201(d) states: SEC. 6201(d). Required Reasonable Verification of Information Returns.--In any court proceeding, if a taxpayer asserts a reasonable dispute with respect to any item of income reported on an information return filed with the Secretary under subpart B or C of part III of subchapter A of chapter 61 by a third party and the taxpayer has fully cooperated with the Secretary (including providing, within a reasonable period of time, access to and inspection of all witnesses, information, and documents within the control of the taxpayer as reasonably requested by the Secretary), the Secretary shall have the burden of producing reasonable and probative information concerning such deficiency in addition to such information return. Again, to the extent that respondent in determining the disputed deficiency may have relied upon third-party information returns reporting matters related to pertinent securities transactions, the full cooperation prerequisites for application of section 6201(d) would appear to render the statute inoperative here. Lastly, a further exception is relevant to this proceeding. The Commissioner bears the burden of proof with respect to any affirmative defense or new matter raised in the answer. Rule 142(a)(1). As just described, by amendment to answer respondent here expressly pleads the duty of consistency as an affirmative defense. See Cluck v. Commissioner, 105 T.C. 324, 331 n.11 (1995) (characterizing the duty of consistency as an affirmativePage: Previous 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 NextLast modified: November 10, 2007