Duttenhofer v. Commissioner
United States Tax Court
1. Petitioners, having reason to know that an estate tax return was required, relied upon an attorney to prepare and file this return.
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1. Petitioners, having reason to know that an estate tax return was required, relied upon an attorney to prepare and file this return. Held, this reliance upon the attorney did not constitute reasonable cause under sec. 6651, I.R.C. 1954, for petitioners' failure to file a timely estate tax return. 2. Held, also, the fact that litigation was still pending at the time the estate tax return was due, did not constitute reasonable cause, even though the outcome of that litigation might affect the tax liability.
1Opinion of the Court
OPINION
The decedent died on February 22, 1963. Section 6075 of the Code requires an estate tax return to be filed within 15 months after decedent’s death. Accordingly, the date on which the estate tax return was due was May 22, 1964; however, no estate tax return was filed until October 27, 1964. The sole issue is whether the failure to timely file the Federal estate tax return was due to reasonable cause under section 6651.3
Petitioners’ basic contention is that they relied upon competent counsel to prepare and file the estate tax return and that this reliance constituted reasonable cause for…
2Cases cited14 opinions
- Logan Lumber Company v. Commissioner of Internal RevenueCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · 1966
- Haywood Lumber & Mining Co. v. Commissioner of Internal RevenueCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit · 1950
- Hatfried, Inc. v. Commissioner of Internal Rev.Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit · 1947
- Southeastern Finance Co. v. Commissioner of Internal RevenueCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · 1946
- Safety Tube Corp. v. Commissioner of Internal Rev.Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · 1948
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3Cited by71 opinions
- United States v. BoyleSupreme Court of the United States · 1985
- Paula Constr. Co. v. CommissionerUnited States Tax Court · 1972
- Estate of Smith v. CommissionerUnited States Tax Court · 1972
- Estate of Frank Duttenhofer, Deceased, Albert J. Uhlenbrock and William Duttenhofer, Co-Executors v. Commissioner of Internal RevenueCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · 1969
- Magnon v. CommissionerUnited States Tax Court · 1980
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