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election coincide with the 9-month period for filing an estate
tax return under section 2001. The estate requested that the
Commissioner exercise his discretion and extend the due date
under section 6081(a) because the estate’s tax return preparer
had died unexpectedly. The examining agent told the executrix in
a later meeting that the estate had made a good case for an
extension but that his supervisor had told him he must deny the
request for an extension because his supervisor disliked farmers,
believing farmers were too rich, got away with too much already,
and did not deserve any further breaks. The estate was not
thereafter afforded an Appeals Office conference.
The Government moved for summary judgment, arguing that
section 6081 was committed to agency discretion. Section 6081(a)
has language similar to that of section 6165, providing that “The
Secretary may grant a reasonable extension of time for filing any
return, declaration, statement, or other document required by
this title or by regulations.” The Government argued that
because the statute provided simply that the Commissioner “may”
grant an extension, the statute lacked ascertainable standards on
which the Court could base its review.
We rejected the Government's argument, first noting that the
“committed to agency discretion” exception to the general rule of
reviewability is a very narrow one. Estate of Gardner v.
Commissioner, supra at 995 (citing Citizens to Preserve Overton
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