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Full Opinion
*11 Judgment entered for respondent except for additions to tax under
P received wages, interest, and distributions from a
pension fund and individual retirement accounts in 1997 and
1998. He filed Forms 1040 and 1040A for those years,
respectively, but entered zeros on the relevant lines for
computing his tax liability. P argues that the income tax is an
excise tax and that he is not engaged in taxable excise
activities. R did not accept P's return forms for 1997 and 1998
as valid returns because they contained no information upon
which P's tax liability could be determined. R prepared
substitutes for return for P for 1997 and 1998. R's substitutes
for return consisted of the first two pages of a Form 1040 and
contained zeros on the relevant lines for computing a tax
liability, showed a tax liability of zero, and were not
subscribed. R subsequently mailed to P a notice showing proposed
tax adjustments. A revenue agent's report was attached to the
notice.
Held: The wages, *12 interest, and distributions that P
received represent taxable income in the amounts determined by
R.
Held, further, that P is liable for a 10-
percent additional tax on the taxable amounts of his pension and
IRA distributions.
return on or before the specified filing date. The Forms 1040
and
for Federal income tax purposes. P is also liable for
I.R.C., additions to tax for a failure to pay estimated taxes.
Held, further, that the
I.R.C., additions to tax for failure to pay amounts of tax shown
on returns do not apply because there was no tax shown on any
returns attributable to P, and the unsubscribed substitutes for
return showing zero taxes do not meet the requirements for a
*13 of proposed adjustments and the revenue agent's report, which
were not attached to the unsubscribed substitutes for return,
whether viewed separately or in conjunction with the substitutes
for return, do not constitute returns for purposes of
imposed under
*164 RUWE, Judge: Respondent determined the following deficiencies in petitioner's Federal income taxes and additions to tax as follows:
Additions to tax
_________________________________________________
Year Deficiency
1997 $ 10,371 $ 2,592.75 To be determined $ 459.70
1998
The issues*14 for decision are: (1) Whether petitioner received wages, interest, and pension and individual retirement plan distributions as taxable income in the amounts that respondent determined; (2) whether petitioner*165 is liable for a 10-percent additional tax under
FINDINGS OF FACT
Some of the facts have been stipulated and are so found. The stipulation of facts, the attached exhibits, and the supplemental stipulation of facts are incorporated herein by this reference. At the time of filing the petition, petitioner resided in Brandamore, Pennsylvania.
Petitioner was employed by Environmental Compliance Services, Inc. (ECS). ECS paid petitioner $ 47,051.55 in 1997 and $ 50,871.48 in 1998 as salary. ECS*15 issued to petitioner Forms W-2, Wage and Tax Statement, which reflected those amounts as wages. In 1997, petitioner received $ 200 in interest from the Internal Revenue Service. In 1998, petitioner received $ 247 in interest from Fulton Bank.
In 1997, petitioner received a $ 20,356 distribution from his pension fund at ECS. 2 In 1998, petitioner received distributions of $ 11,000 from an individual retirement account (IRA) that he maintained with Vanguard Fiduciary Trust. Also in 1998, petitioner received a $ 2,534 distribution from an IRA that he maintained with Warburg Pincus International Equity Fund. 3
*16 Petitioner submitted to respondent a Form 1040, U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, dated April 14, 1998, for his 1997 taxable year. Petitioner entered zeros on line 7 for wages and salaries, line 22 for total income, lines 32 and 33 for adjusted gross income, line 38 for taxable income, line 39 for tax, and line 53 for total tax. 4 Attached to the Form 1040 is a two-page document in which petitioner explains his position regarding his entering zeros on that form in which he argues, inter alia, that no section of the Internal Revenue Code establishes an income tax liability or provides that *166 income taxes have to be paid on the basis of a return, that he is protected by the
*17 In a letter dated January 19, 1999, petitioner submitted to respondent a Form 4852, Substitute for Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement, correcting the Form W-2 that ECS issued to petitioner for 1997. The Form 4852 indicates that lines 7a, b, and c of the Form W-2 should contain zeros. Petitioner also submitted a document entitled "Asseveration of Claimed Gross Income" and a document entitled "Detailed Explanation of Determination of Taxable Sources of Income for the Year 1997" in which he explained his position. He claimed that the Form W-2 submitted by ECS for 1997 was incorrect because he did not have any gross income from a source listed in the regulations promulgated under
Petitioner submitted a Form 1040A, U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, for taxable year 1998. Petitioner entered zeros on line 7 for wages and salaries, line 14 for total income, lines 18 and 19 for adjusted gross income, and line 24 for taxable income. 5 Petitioner attached a Form 4852 to the Form 1040A. He also attached a one-page untitled document and a five-page document entitled "Asseveration of Exclusion of Remuneration from Gross Income for 1998" in which he raised arguments similar to those*18 raised in the attachment to his 1997 Form 1040 and in the Form 4852 that he submitted for 1997.
Respondent did not accept petitioner's 1997 Form 1040 or the 1998 Form 1040A as valid returns. Respondent prepared substitute for return documents (SFRs) for petitioner for 1997 and 1998. Each of the SFRs consists of pages 1 and 2 of a Form 1040, and each contains zeros on line 7 for wages and salaries, line 22 for total income, line 39 for taxable income, line 40 for tax, and line 56 for total tax. Respondent stamped those documents as received by his service center on February 23, 2000. Respondent mailed to petitioner a letter *167 dated May 31, 2000, notifying him of proposed changes to*19 petitioner's taxes and various penalties for the years 1997 and 1998. A revenue agent's report dated May 31, 2000, is attached to that letter. The letter informed petitioner that he had 30 days to request a conference with respondent's Office of Appeals if petitioner did not agree to the proposed adjustments. Respondent mailed a notice of deficiency to petitioner on September 28, 2001.
Petitioner had no Federal income taxes withheld from his wages for the taxable years 1997 and 1998. He made no estimated tax payments for those years.
OPINION
Gross income means all income from whatever source derived.
Respondent determined that petitioner received taxable wages, interest, and pension and IRA distributions in 1997 and 1998. Petitioner stipulated that he received*20 the amounts determined by respondent as income. However, he argues that the income tax is an excise tax and that he did not engage in taxable excise activities during the taxable years in question. We have previously rejected petitioner's argument as frivolous, and we see no need to address petitioner's argument with any further discussion.
*21 *168 B. Additional Tax for Early Distributions
Respondent determined that petitioner is liable for a 10- percent additional tax on the taxable amounts of his pension and IRA distributions in 1997 and 1998. If any individual taxpayer receives any amount from a qualified retirement plan, the taxpayer's tax is increased by an amount equal to 10 percent of the portion of such amount that is includable in gross income.
*169 Petitioner filed what he claimed to be valid returns for 1997 and 1998. However, those purported returns contain zeros on the relevant lines for computing petitioner's tax liability. Respondent did not accept those returns and treated the documents that petitioner filed as frivolous returns.
The majority of courts, including this Court, have held that, generally, a return that contains only zeros is not a valid return. See
The Forms 1040 and 1040A that petitioner submitted contain only zero entries, and it is*26 clear from the attachments to those returns that petitioner did not make an honest and reasonable attempt to supply the information required by the Internal Revenue Code. We hold that petitioner did not file valid returns. Petitioner did not establish that his failure to *170 file was due to reasonable cause. We therefore sustain the
*28 We have previously discussed the requirements of a
The SFRs that the parties stipulated were not subscribed as required by
Respondent argues that in determining whether a valid
We find that the notice of proposed adjustments and the revenue agent's report cannot be considered to be part of the SFRs that respondent prepared. We cannot agree with respondent's suggestion that the presence of what are essentially "dummy returns" and a revenue agent's report somewhere in the record meets the requirements of
*32 The record in the instant case contains essentially the same materials that were involved in
*33 On the basis of the evidentiary record and previously cited cases, we hold that respondent has not met his burden of production with respect to the appropriateness of imposing the
Prior to trial, respondent filed a motion for sanctions pursuant to
An appropriate order and decision will be entered for respondent except for the additions to tax under
Footnotes
1. All section references are to the Internal Revenue Code in effect for the taxable years in issue.↩
2. A Form 1099-R, Distributions from Pensions, Annuities, Retirement or Profit-Sharing Plans, IRAs, Insurance Contracts, etc., listing sheet for petitioner's distribution shows a gross distribution of $ 20,356.05 and a taxable amount of $ 4,000.↩
3. Petitioner had not attained the ages of 55 or 59-1/2 years as of Dec. 31, 1998. He was not separated from his employment in 1997 and 1998. He was married during 1997 and 1998; he was neither separated nor divorced during those years.↩
4. Petitioner also entered zeros on line 60 for total payments, line 61 for amount overpaid, and line 62a for amount to be refunded. All remaining lines, except the name, address, Social Security number, filing status, exemptions, and signature lines, were left blank.↩
5. Petitioner also entered zeros on line 35 for Federal income tax withheld and line 39 for total payments. Line 7 contains a handwritten notation to see an attached document for an explanation regarding petitioner's entry of zero on that line. All remaining lines except the name, filing status, and the signature lines were left blank.↩
6. Petitioner submitted documents to respondent with respect to his 1997 and 1998 tax years in which he argued that his wages were not includable in gross income since wages are not listed in the regulations promulgated under
sec. 861 , notablysec. 1.861- 8(f) , Income Tax Regs. Those regulations provide rules for determining whether income is considered from sources within or without the United States. Petitioner did not raise this argument in his petition or on brief. In any event, that argument is frivolous. SeeTakaba v. Commissioner, 119 T.C. 285