Johnson v. Commissioner

1992 T.C. Memo. 151, 63 T.C.M. 2387, 1992 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 169
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedMarch 16, 1992
DocketDocket No. 15585-90.
StatusUnpublished

This text of 1992 T.C. Memo. 151 (Johnson v. Commissioner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Tax Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Johnson v. Commissioner, 1992 T.C. Memo. 151, 63 T.C.M. 2387, 1992 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 169 (tax 1992).

Opinion

PETER A. JOHNSON AND CLAIRE P. LYON, Petitioners v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent
Johnson v. Commissioner
Docket No. 15585-90.
United States Tax Court
T.C. Memo 1992-151; 1992 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 169; 63 T.C.M. (CCH) 2387; T.C.M. (RIA) 92151;
March 16, 1992, Filed
*169 Peter A. Johnson and Claire P. Lyon, pro se.
Ronald F. Hood, for respondent.
TANNENWALD

TANNENWALD

SUPPLEMENTAL MEMORANDUM OPINION

TANNENWALD, Judge: This case is again before us on petitioners' motion for reconsideration of our Memorandum Findings of Fact and Opinion, T.C. Memo. 1991-645.

Initially, we note that the arguments as to whether petitioners are bound by their section 333 1 election are repetitious, have been dealt with in our prior opinion, and provide no valid basis for our further consideration.

With respect to the additions to tax under section 6653(a)(1) and (2), petitioners seek to persuade us that, although Johnson is one person, he is entitled to divide himself into two characters -- one an ordinary taxpayer without any tax background and experience and the other a knowledgeable accountant upon whom *170 the first character was entitled to rely. This is disingenuous to say the least. Johnson is one person with a number of qualifications, including his status as a certified public accountant, and we are entitled to take that status into account in deciding what the consequences of his action should be. The test is the care "a reasonable and ordinarily prudent person would exercise under the circumstances" and clearly a circumstance is Johnson's status as a C.P.A. See Antonides v. Commissioner, 91 T.C. 686, 699-700 (1988), affd. 893 F.2d 656 (4th Cir. 1990). See also Schirmer v. Commissioner, 89 T.C. 277, 287 (1987), where, in sustaining respondent's determination as to additions to tax under section 6653(a)(1) and (2), we pointed out that "petitioners were well educated individuals who should have known that they could not claim deductions and losses for their farming activity".2 For the reasons set forth in our prior opinion, Lyon cannot claim any different treatment. The fact that she apparently acquired her stock before she and Johnson were married is not sufficient to avoid, under the circumstances herein, identification*171 of her with her husband 6 years later.

Petitioners also fail to distinguish between the situation at the time the election was made in December 1986 and the impact of their actions thereafter. It was at the former time that Johnson made his mistake of law, a mistake which the totality of the circumstances indicate may not have been excusable. In any event, Johnson's subsequent actions provide ample reason for our conclusion that respondent's determination as to the additions to tax both under section 6653(a)(1) and section 6653(a)(2) should be sustained. After a further review of the record and due consideration of petitioners' arguments, we are satisfied that our conclusions in our prior opinion should*172 not be changed. In so stating, we are aware that those conclusions are at variance with some of the views we expressed at trial. Those views, however, were made prior to the time that we had had an opportunity to review the record as a whole, i.e., the stipulation of facts, together with the accompanying exhibits, and the oral testimony -- a review which we made prior to issuing our prior opinion and again in considering petitioners' motion for reconsideration. In point of fact, such reviews have caused our initial sympathy for petitioners to wane and the mantle of reasonableness, which we had thought to exist, to disappear.

Petitioners have the burden of proof as to the additions to tax under section 6653(a)(1) and (2). Rule 142(a); Neely v. Commissioner, 85 T.C. 934, 947 (1985). 3 Two facts in relation to petitioners' actions subsequent to December 1986 are critical. First, they filed their personal return in April 1987, in which they merely described the transaction in respect of the disposition of PAJA stock as a "sale", a far cry from the "statement of all facts" required by section 1.333-6, Income Tax Regs. Moreover, they did not attach to their return*173 a copy of the Form 964 in accordance with section 1.333-3, Income Tax Regs. The attachment of Form 964 and the statement constitute the means of alerting respondent to the fact that section 333 is involved -- something that is not fully accomplished by the separate filing of the 964. Equally significant, in the context of the additions to tax, is the failure to include Schedule L on the Form 1120 of PAJA for the short year ending December 28, 1986, which was filed on February 2, 1988, in response to a request of respondent's auditor. This delay is in sharp contrast to the fact that the Form 1120-A for PAJA's taxable year ending June 30, 1986, prepared at the same time as the Form 1120, was filed on January 8, 1987.

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Related

Neely v. Commissioner
85 T.C. No. 56 (U.S. Tax Court, 1985)
Schirmer v. Commissioner
89 T.C. No. 24 (U.S. Tax Court, 1987)
Mailman v. Commissioner
91 T.C. No. 68 (U.S. Tax Court, 1988)
Antonides v. Commissioner
91 T.C. No. 45 (U.S. Tax Court, 1988)
Smith v. Commissioner
91 T.C. No. 48 (U.S. Tax Court, 1988)
Birth v. Commissioner
92 T.C. No. 44 (U.S. Tax Court, 1989)
Accardo v. Commissioner
94 T.C. No. 8 (U.S. Tax Court, 1990)

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Bluebook (online)
1992 T.C. Memo. 151, 63 T.C.M. 2387, 1992 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 169, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/johnson-v-commissioner-tax-1992.