Opinion

Plunkett v. Commissioner

  • 41 B.T.A. 700
  • 1940 BTA LEXIS 1154
Court
United States Board of Tax Appeals
Filed
Mar 29, 1940
Status
Published
Author
Mellott
On the bench
Harron, Smith, Mellott, Only, Disney, Agree, Murdock
Cited by
38 cases

The opinion

Mellott,

concurring and dissenting: I concur in the holding to the effect that the $70,000 constituted taxable income to the petitioner but am of the opinion that the 25 percent delinquency penalty should not be imposed. The document filed by petitioner with the collector on March 18, 1935, was treated as a return, though not signed by him. It was audited by the department, and the collector “requested a statement from the petitioner as to why his return was delinquent.” The check, which petitioner enclosed, was cashed and the amount thereof, together with' interest, was refunded to petitioner about a year later because he had included in his gross income his salary as state senator, which was not then taxable. Apparently no question was ever raised because the return was unverified until several years later, when the present deficiency was determined. Shortly thereafter petitioner “filed a properly verified income tax return for 1934.” The penalty, in the language of the statute, is not to be imposed “when a return is filed after' * * * [the time prescribed by law] and it is shown that the failure to file it was due to reasonable cause *712 and not due to willful neglect * * Being of the opinion that petitioner’s late filing was not due to willful neglect, I respectfully note my dissent to the imposition of the penalty.

Murdock and Hakron agree with the above.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

A word about cookies

We need a few to keep you signed in and the library working. The rest help us see which pages people use and where they get stuck. They stay off unless you say yes.