Estate of Liftin v. United States

Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge TARANTO. Dissenting opinion filed by Circuit Judge NEWMAN.

TARANTO, Circuit Judge.

The estate of Morton Liftin and its executor, John Liftin, appeal from a decision of the United States Court of Federal Claims that upheld a penalty assessed by the In*976ternal Revenue Service under 26 U.S.C. § 6651(a)(1) because the executor filed the estate-tax return late. Under the statute, as the case is presented here, the full assessed penalty was mandatory unless advice given by counsel established reasonable cause for not filing the return during a nine-month…