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Petitioner contends that he had reasonable cause for filing
late, and that the late filing of his return is attributable to
his disability.6
A taxpayer may have reasonable cause for failure to timely
file a return where the taxpayer or a member of the taxpayer’s
family experiences an illness or incapacity that prevents the
taxpayer from filing his or her return. See, e.g., United States
v. Sanford, 979 F.2d 1511 (11th Cir. 1992) (holding that
reasonable cause may be found if a taxpayer convincingly
demonstrates that a disability beyond his control rendered him
unable to exercise ordinary business care). The type of
disability required is “one that because of severity or timing
makes it virtually impossible for the taxpayer to comply--things
like emergency hospitalization or other incapacity occurring
around tax time.” Carlson v. United States, 126 F.3d 915, 923
(7th Cir. 1997).
6 Petitioner argued in his posttrial brief that he had been
“awarded by this court late filing status under docket 1093-04S.”
As noted above, see Disability Exception, supra, the previous
case to which petitioner was a party resulted in the Court’s
entering a stipulated decision based on an agreement reached by
the parties; none of the issues were actually litigated. Any
waiver of additions to tax on the basis of petitioner’s late-
filing a return for the taxable year 1999 agreed to by the IRS in
that case was at the IRS’s sole discretion and has no bearing on
the instant case. Petitioner should note that this Court has no
authority to permanently grant a taxpayer permission to file his
or her tax returns in an untimely fashion, and that extensions of
time to file may be obtained from the IRS.
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Last modified: November 10, 2007