2001 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 314">*314 Decision will be entered for respondent.
MEMORANDUM OPINION
COUVILLION, Special Trial Judge: Respondent determined that petitioner was liable for the following additions to tax for the years 1982 and 1983: 1
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Additions to Tax
________________
Year
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1982 $ 517 * $ 2,585
1983 20 2001 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 314">*315 ** --
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* Fifty percent of the interest due on $ 10,340.
** Fifty percent of the interest due on $ 393.
The issues for decision are: (1) Whether, for 1982 and 1983, petitioner is liable for the additions to tax under
Some of the facts were stipulated, and those facts, with the annexed exhibits, are so found and are incorporated herein by reference. At the time the petition was filed, petitioner's legal residence was La Jolla, California.
Petitioner is a medical doctor specializing in dermatology. Petitioner has been engaged in the private practice of dermatology in the San Diego, California, area since 1980. For approximately 20 years prior to 1980, petitioner worked as a physician in the U.S. Navy. Petitioner was2001 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 314">*316 born and raised in the U.S. Territory of Puerto Rico, where petitioner's father was an accountant and a coffee bean and citron fruit farmer. While growing up, petitioner occasionally assisted his father on the coffee bean and citron plantation.
Shortly after his entry into medical practice, petitioner began to attend various business and financial seminars in order to become more educated about efficiently sustaining a private medical practice. During one of these seminars in 1982, petitioner met Thomas Moore (Mr. Moore), a financial adviser with Coordinated Financial Services (CFS) of Salt Lake City, Utah. Mr. Moore was a promoter for Blythe I.
Petitioner engaged Mr. Moore to conduct a comprehensive analysis of petitioner's personal and business financial situation. One of Mr. Moore's recommendations was to "invest in a tax-sheltered program designed to generate $ 55,000 of deductions in 1982", and thus he introduced petitioner to the Blythe I offering, which was being promoted as an agricultural research and development partnership. According to petitioner, Mr. Moore had no apparent previous experience with agricultural or research and development partnerships.
Mr. Moore provided2001 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 314">*317 petitioner with a fairly voluminous private placement memorandum 2 (the offering), which described the proposed investment in and the activities to be conducted through Blythe I. Petitioner reviewed the document and then passed along the offering to his certified public accountant and tax attorney, Denis McDevitt (Mr. McDevitt), whom petitioner had recently hired to prepare his income tax returns. After reviewing the offering, Mr. McDevitt advised petitioner that he had no problem with petitioner's investment in Blythe I. Petitioner did not consult any independent expert in the area of agriculture or jojoba plants as to whether jojoba oil or any other jojoba derivative had a potentially lucrative commercial market. Petitioner, nevertheless, invested in Blythe I.
On his joint 1982 Federal income tax return, petitioner reported wages of $ 84,702 from his medical practice and other employment, as well2001 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 314">*318 as $ 14,336 from his wife's employment. Petitioner also reported interest income of $ 579, taxable dividend income of $ 118, a State income tax refund of $ 1,491, a capital loss of $ 2,000, and taxable pension income of $ 25,633. Additionally, petitioner reported a loss of $ 20,925 from Blythe I. Thus, petitioner reported total income of $ 103,934 and a total tax liability of $ 24,211.
On his joint 1983 Federal income tax return, petitioner reported wages of $ 37,239 from his medical practice and other employment, as well as $ 15,042 from his wife's employment. Petitioner also reported interest income of $ 610, a State income tax refund of $ 274, and taxable pension income of $ 26,851. Additionally, petitioner reported a loss of $ 981 from Blythe I. Thus, petitioner reported total income of $ 79,035 and a total tax liability of $ 11,524.
Blythe I was audited by the Internal Revenue Service, and a Notice of Final Partnership Administrative Adjustment was issued to the partnership. The partnership initiated a TEFRA proceeding in this Court, and a decision was entered in
2001 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 314">*320 As a result of Blythe I's TEFRA proceeding, petitioner and his wife were assessed tax deficiencies of $ 10,340 for 1982 and $ 394 for 1983, plus interest. Subsequently, respondent issued a notice of deficiency to petitioner and his wife for 1982 and 1983 for affected items, determining that they are liable for the additions to tax for negligence under
The first issue is the additions to tax for negligence under
2001 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 314">*322
Negligence is defined as the failure to exercise the due care that a reasonable and ordinarily prudent person would exercise under like circumstances.
A taxpayer may avoid liability for2001 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 314">*323 negligence penalties under some circumstances if the taxpayer reasonably relied on competent professional advice. See
The facts pertinent to the instant case, relating to the structure, formation, and operation of Blythe I are as discussed in
Petitioner invested in four limited partnership units, which required an initial downpayment of $ 10,000 and execution of a promissory note for $ 23,920, with payments of $ 2,600 each year from 1983 through 1985, $ 2,100 per year from 1986 through 1991, and a final payment of $ 3,520 in 1992 on the promissory note. The record reflects that the $ 10,000 due in 1982 and the $ 2,600 due in 1983, totaling $ 12,600, were paid. In 1984, petitioner defaulted on the remainder due on the promissory note.
The offering identified William Kellen (Mr. Kellen) as the general partner and U.S. Agri as the2001 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 314">*325 contractor for the R & D program under an R & D agreement. Additionally, a license agreement between Blythe I and U.S. Agri granted U.S. Agri the exclusive right to utilize technology developed for Blythe I for 40 years in exchange for a royalty of 85 percent of all products produced. The offering included copies of both the R & D agreement and the license agreement. The R & D agreement was executed concurrently with the license agreement.
According to its terms, the R & D agreement expired upon the partnership's execution of the license agreement. Since the two were executed concurrently, amounts paid to U.S. Agri by the partnership were not paid pursuant to a valid R & D agreement but were passive investments in a farming venture under which the investors' return, if any, was to be in the form of a royalty pursuant to the licensing agreement. Thus, as this Court held in
Petitioner here contends that his investment in Blythe I was motivated solely by the potential to earn a profit. Petitioner contends further that his reliance on the advice of his certified public accountant and tax attorney, Mr. McDevitt, should absolve him of liability for the negligence penalty in this case. Petitioner also argues that, taking into account his experience and the nature of the investment in Blythe I, he exercised the due care that a reasonable and ordinarily prudent person would have exercised under like circumstances. For the reasons set forth below, the Court does not agree with petitioner's contentions.
First, the principal flaw in the2001 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 314">*327 structure of Blythe I was evident from the face of the very documents included in the offering. A reading of the R & D agreement and licensing agreement, both of which were included as part of the offering, plainly shows that the licensing agreement canceled or rendered ineffective the R & D agreement because of the concurrent execution of the two documents. Thus, the partnership was never engaged, either directly or indirectly, in the conduct of any research or experimentation. Rather, the partnership was merely a passive investor seeking royalty returns pursuant to the licensing agreement. Any experienced attorney capable of reading and understanding the subject documents should have understood the legal ramifications of the licensing agreement canceling out the R & D agreement. However, petitioner's tax attorney, Mr. McDevitt, obviously failed to review diligently the offering prior to advising petitioner to invest in Blythe I. It is also clear from the record that petitioner failed to scrutinize carefully the offering himself.
Secondly, in making his investment in Blythe I, petitioner relied on the advice of his certified public accountant and tax attorney, Mr. McDevitt, and Mr. 2001 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 314">*328 Moore, who was a promoter for the partnership. Mr. McDevitt made only a cursory review of the offering and made no objection to petitioner's investment in Blythe I. When asked at trial whether he endorsed the investment, Mr. McDevitt stated that "endorse might be too strong a word." Mr. McDevitt did not give petitioner a written opinion about the investment, nor did he conduct any independent research or consult any type of agricultural or jojoba plant expert about the investment. Instead, he relied solely on the representations made in the offering.
Moreover, at trial Mr. McDevitt claimed that, at the time he advised petitioner about Blythe I, he had prior experience with agricultural partnerships and research and development partnerships; yet, no evidence about the amount, scope, and nature of such experience was produced. Mr. McDevitt failed to conduct any independent investigation to determine whether the specific research and development proposed to be conducted by or on behalf of the partnership would have qualified for deductions under
There is no evidence in the2001 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 314">*329 record to suggest that petitioner or his wife ever questioned Mr. McDevitt about the facts and/or legal analysis upon which he based his recommendations. Further, the record is devoid of any evidence that petitioner asked Mr. McDevitt to explain the Blythe I investment to him, particularly those portions of the offering that he had opted not to read or apparently was unable to understand.
The facts in this case are similar to those in
acted on their fascination with the idea of participating in a
jojoba farming venture and their satisfaction with tax benefits
of expensing their investments, which were clear to them from
the promoter's presentation. They passed the offering circular
by their accountants for a "glance" * * *.
Similarly, petitioner here acted on his enthusiasm for the potential uses of jojoba and acted with knowledge of the tax benefits of making the investment. The evidence in this record suggests that the nature of the advice given by Mr. McDevitt was highly generalized and based primarily on a mere cursory review of2001 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 314">*330 the offering rather than on independent knowledge, research, or analysis. Petitioner failed to show that Mr. McDevitt had the expertise and knowledge of the pertinent facts to provide informed advice on the investment in Blythe I. See
The Court next examines petitioner's reliance on the advice of Mr. Moore. Petitioner admitted that he relied heavily on the advice of Mr. Moore and the information contained in the offering in making his investment in Blythe I. Yet, Mr. Moore also had no background or expertise in the areas of agriculture or jojoba plants. In fact, it appears that nearly all other potential investments recommended to petitioner by Mr. Moore in his financial analysis were real estate investments, and that Blythe I was the only investment of an agricultural nature advocated by him. More importantly, because Mr. Moore had a personal profit motive in selling this investment to clients, he had a conflict of interest in advising petitioner to purchase2001 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 314">*331 the limited partnership interests. 6 The advice petitioner received from Mr. Moore fails as a defense to negligence due to his lack of competence to give such advice and the clear presence of a conflict of interest. See
Outside of Mr. McDevitt and Mr. Moore, petitioner made no other inquiry into the viability of this partnership's proposed research and operations. The Court finds it notable that the offering listed at least 15 "potential uses of jojoba nuts"; yet, petitioner failed to explore the plausibility of any of those potential uses. Some of the potential uses listed in the offering were various lubricants for high-speed or high-temperature machinery, cosmetics, shampoos and soaps, sunscreens, 2001 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 314">*332 pharmaceuticals, cooking oils, disinfectants, polishing waxes, corrosion inhibitors, candles, animal feed supplements, and fertilizer. Being a physician, it seems logical that petitioner would have had some access to information about the commercial use of jojoba in the pharmaceutical arena; however, petitioner failed to pursue this possibility. Petitioner's failure to investigate independently any of the enumerated potential uses of jojoba plants was unreasonable under the circumstances.
Petitioner had no legal background or training, limited agricultural background or training, and no prior background with jojoba plants; yet, he consulted few, if any, sources of such information prior to investing in Blythe I. Petitioner's limited youthful background with the growth and sale of coffee and citron should have educated petitioner that no two plant species respond to identical treatment and that each has a different potential for commercial production and sales. 7 Petitioner appears to argue that it would have been difficult for him to locate an appropriate expert to examine the investment. On the contrary, the Court does not believe that petitioner would have experienced a great2001 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 314">*333 degree of difficulty in contacting the agricultural department of a nearby college or university or going to another reliable source to inquire about the research and development of jojoba plants and their potential commercial usage, if any. A reasonable and ordinarily prudent investor would have at least attempted to make this type of inquiry under the circumstances. 8
Petitioner was not a naive investor and should have2001 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 314">*334 recognized the need for independent professional advice. See
The Court is mindful that the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (Ninth Circuit), the court to which an appeal in this case would lie, has held that experience and involvement of the general partner and the lack of warning signs could reasonably lead investors to believe they were entitled to deductions in light of the undeveloped state of the law regarding
On this record, the Court finds that petitioner did not exercise the due care of a reasonable and ordinarily prudent person under the circumstances. Consequently, the Court holds that petitioner is liable for the negligence additions to tax2001 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 314">*337 under
The second issue is whether petitioner is liable for the addition to tax under
Substantial authority exists when "the weight of the authorities supporting the treatment is substantial in relation to the weight of authorities supporting contrary positions."
Adequate disclosure of the tax treatment of a particular item may be made either in a statement attached to the return or on the return itself, if it is in accordance with the requirements of
2001 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 314">*340 Finally,
Petitioner failed to prove that he had substantial authority for his treatment of the partnership loss and that he adequately disclosed the relevant facts of that treatment. The understatement upon which the addition to tax was imposed was $ 10,340. The understatement is substantial because it exceeds the greater of $ 5,000 or 10 percent of the amount2001 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 314">*341 required to be shown on the return. 10 On this record, the Court holds that petitioner is liable for the addition to tax under
Decision will be entered for respondent.
1. Unless otherwise indicated, all section references are to the Internal Revenue Code in effect for the years at issue, and all Rule references are to the Tax Court Rules of Practice and Procedure.↩
2. The private placement memorandum consisted of some 47 pages, plus eight exhibits, and a table of contents.↩
3. The tax matters partner of Blythe I signed a stipulation to be bound by the outcome of
4. Eighteen docketed cases were bound by stipulation by the outcome of
5. The Internal Revenue Service Restructuring & Reform Act of 1998, Pub. L. 105-206, sec. 3001, 112 Stat. 726, added sec. 7491(c), which places the burden of production on the Secretary with respect to a taxpayer's liability for penalties and additions to tax in court proceedings arising in connection with examinations commencing after July 22, 1998. Petitioner does not contend, nor is there evidence, that his examination commenced after July 22, 1998, or that sec. 7491 is applicable in this case.↩
6. Petitioner acknowledged in his testimony that he knew Mr. Moore was receiving commissions for finding investors to purchase the limited partnership interests.↩
7. Indeed, petitioner testified that the commercial market for coffee was much larger and more lucrative than that for citron.↩
8. Petitioner testified that, at the time of his investment in Blythe I, he was aware of jojoba research being conducted at the University of California at Riverside and the University of Arizona at Tucson. Also, in
9. As noted earlier, even if an adequate disclosure had been made on the return, such disclosure would not reduce the amount of the understatement attributable to a tax shelter item.↩
10. The amount required to be shown on the return was $ 34,551, 10 percent of which equals $ 3,455.10.↩