NILSEN v. COMMISSIONER
Opinion
*196 Decisions will be entered for respondent.
MEMORANDUM OPINION
COUVILLION, SPECIAL TRIAL JUDGE: In these consolidated cases, respondent determined that petitioners were liable for the following additions to tax for the years 1982 and 1983: 1
Additions to Tax
_________________________________________________
Year
____ _______________ _______________ _________
1982 $ 443 * $ 2,215
1983 10 ** -- *197
The issues for decision are: (1) Whether, for 1982 and 1983, petitioners are 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 petitions were filed, petitioners' legal residence was Henderson, Nevada.
Petitioner is a medical doctor specializing in family practice medicine. Petitioner has been practicing family medicine in Las Vegas, Nevada, since 1964. During 1963 or 1964, when petitioner was a medical*198 intern, he became acquainted with a financial adviser named Gary Sheets (Mr. Sheets). At that time, Mr. Sheets began advising petitioner on various financial matters and introduced petitioner to numerous investment opportunities. Between the years 1964 and 1982, petitioner invested money with Mr. Sheets approximately two or three times per year. Petitioner experienced a favorable rate of financial success with Mr. Sheets' investment suggestions, which consisted primarily of real estate investments such as land development.
During 1982, Mr. Sheets approached petitioner about investing in Blythe II, which was being promoted as an agricultural research and development partnership. Blythe II was the first agricultural type investment opportunity that had been proposed by Mr. Sheets for consideration by petitioner. Mr. Sheets provided 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 II. Petitioner admittedly only scanned the document and did not carefully read each page. Instead, petitioner passed along the offering to his certified public accountant, Gary Mathis*199 (Mr. Mathis), who routinely reviewed petitioner's other investment opportunities. After perusing the offering, Mr. Mathis advised petitioner that Blythe II appeared to be a reasonable investment opportunity and that petitioner should be entitled to deductions for research and development costs, as well as other partnership expenses.
Petitioner also contacted Jack Huntington (Mr. Huntington), who operated Huntington Jewelers in Las Vegas, to inquire about the use of jojoba bean oil in the jewelry and watch industry. According to the offering, one of the potential uses for oil extracted from jojoba beans was a substitute for sperm whale oil, which had been banned from importation into the United States in the early 1970's. Mr. Huntington advised petitioner that there was some concern among those in the watch industry about the availability of sperm whale oil as a lubricant and the prospects for any viable substitute. *200 Petitioner did not consult an attorney or any independent expert in the area of agriculture or jojoba plants regarding whether jojoba oil could be a viable or competitive substitute for sperm whale oil. Petitioners, nevertheless, invested in Blythe II.
On their joint 1982 Federal income tax return, petitioners reported wages of $ 105,100 from petitioner's medical practice and a loss of $ 20,933 from Blythe II. Including the loss reported from Blythe II, petitioners reported total net losses from various partnerships of $ 54,575 for 1982. Thus, petitioners reported an adjusted gross income of $ 51,576 and a total tax liability of $ 3,181. 3
On their joint 1983 Federal income tax return, petitioners reported wages of $ 86,000*201 from petitioner's medical practice and a loss of $ 1,006 from Blythe II. Including the loss reported from Blythe II, petitioners reported total net losses from various partnerships of $ 33,680 for 1983. Thus, petitioners reported an adjusted gross income of $ 71,351 and a total tax liability of $ 9,133. 4
Blythe II 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
As a result of Blythe II's TEFRA proceeding, petitioners were assessed tax deficiencies of $ 8,858 for 1982 and $ 201 for 1983, plus interest. Subsequently, respondent issued notices of deficiency to petitioners for 1982 and 1983 for affected items determining that petitioners are liable for the additions to tax for negligence under
The first issue is whether petitioners are liable for the additions to tax for negligence under
*205
Negligence is defined as the failure to exercise the due care that a reasonable and ordinarily prudent person would exercise under like circumstances. See
A taxpayer may avoid liability*206 for negligence penalties under some circumstances if the taxpayer reasonably relied on competent professional advice. See
The facts pertinent to the instant cases, relating to the structure, formation, and operation of Blythe II, are as discussed in
Petitioners' investment was for four limited partnership units, which required an initial downpayment of $ 10,000 and execution of a promissory note for $ 23,920. Petitioners paid $ 2,600 each year from 1983 through 1985 and $ 2,100 per year from 1986 through 1991 on the promissory note. In 1992, petitioners made a final payment of $ 3,520.
The offering identified William Kellen (Mr. Kellen) as the general partner and U.S. Agri as the contractor for the R & D program under*208 an R & D agreement. Additionally, a license agreement between Blythe II and U.S. Agri granted U.S. Agri the exclusive right to utilize technology developed for Blythe II 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. 8 The R & D agreement was executed concurrently with the license agreement.
*209 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
Petitioners here contend that their investment in Blythe II was motivated solely by the potential to earn a profit. Petitioners contend further that their reliance on the advice of their certified public accountant, Mr. Mathis, should absolve them of liability for the negligence penalty in these cases. Petitioners also argue that, taking into account their experience and the nature of the investment in Blythe II, they 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 petitioners' contentions.
First, the principal flaw in the structure of Blythe II 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. *211 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, petitioners never consulted an attorney in connection with this investment, nor did they thoroughly read the offering themselves.
Secondly, in making their investment in Blythe II, petitioners relied on the advice of their certified public accountant, Mr. Mathis, Mr. Sheets, who was a promoter for the partnership, and petitioner's brief conversation with a local jeweler about the prospects for the use of jojoba bean oil in the watch and jewelry industry. Mr. Mathis, admittedly, made only a cursory review of the offering and advised petitioners that, based on what he had read in the offering, there was some basis for the investment, there would be some tax advantages, and the investment had, "at least, some potential". Mr. Mathis testified that the subject tax deductions appeared reasonable to him because they were "one for one" deductions rather than the "multiple write-off*212 kind of investments that were floating around at that time." Mr. Mathis did not give petitioners 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, when questioned by this Court, Mr. Mathis admitted that, at the time he advised petitioners about Blythe II, he had rarely been presented with a question concerning research and development expenses, and he realized that such expenses would have allowed petitioners certain tax benefits above and beyond what would have been provided by an ordinary business deduction. Despite his relative inexperience with the deductibility of research and development expenses, however, Mr. Mathis 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 the record*213 to suggest that petitioners ever questioned Mr. Mathis about the facts and/or legal analysis upon which he based his recommendations. Further, the record is devoid of any evidence that petitioners asked Mr. Mathis to explain the Blythe II investment to them, particularly those portions of the offering that they had opted not to read or apparently were unable to understand.
The facts in these cases 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, petitioners in these cases acted on their 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. Mathis was highly generalized and based primarily on a mere cursory review of the*214 offering rather than on independent knowledge, research, or analysis. Petitioners failed to show that Mr. Mathis had the expertise and knowledge of the pertinent facts to provide informed advice on the investment in Blythe II. See
The Court next examines petitioners' reliance on the advice of Mr. Sheets. Mr. Sheets had no background or expertise in the areas of agriculture or jojoba plants. In fact, nearly all of the previous investments recommended to petitioners by Mr. Sheets had been real estate investments, and Blythe II was the first investment of an agricultural nature advocated by him. Also, because Mr. Sheets was a salesperson for this investment, he had a personal profit motive, and thus a conflict of interest, in advising petitioners to purchase the limited partnership interests. The advice petitioners allegedly received from Mr. Sheets fails as a defense to negligence due to his lack of competence to give such advice and the clear presence of a*215 conflict of interest. See
Outside of Mr. Mathis and Mr. Sheets, petitioner's sole inquiry into the viability of this partnership's operations was his contact with a jeweler, Mr. Huntington, who advised petitioner that there were concerns in the watch industry about the lack of availability of sperm whale oil as a lubricant and the prospects for any viable substitute for this oil. The Court finds it notable that the offering listed at least fifteen "potential uses of jojoba nuts", only one of which was a lubricant substitute for sperm whale oil; yet, petitioners chose to explore only one of those potential uses by contacting a local jeweler. Some other potential uses listed in the offering were cosmetics, shampoos and soaps, sunscreens, 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 use of jojoba in the pharmaceutical arena; however, petitioner*216 failed to pursue this possibility. Petitioners' failure to investigate any of the other enumerated potential uses of jojoba plants was unreasonable under the circumstances.
Petitioners had no legal or agricultural background or training; yet, they consulted no source of such information prior to investing more than $ 30,000 in Blythe II. Petitioners contend that, based on the amount of money they were investing in Blythe II, they couldn't justify spending additional funds to research the partnership and its proposed activities. Petitioners argue further that they didn't know where or how to find an appropriate expert to examine the investment. On the contrary, the Court believes that, at a minimum, petitioners could have contacted an attorney to review the offering, provide legal advice surrounding the partnership, and explain the legal ramifications of the licensing agreement canceling out the R & D agreement. A reasonable and ordinarily prudent investor under the circumstances would have consulted an attorney.
Additionally, the Court does not believe that petitioners would have experienced a great degree of difficulty or incurred a great deal of expense in contacting the agricultural*217 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. Again, a reasonable and ordinarily prudent investor would have at least attempted to make this type of inquiry under the circumstances. 9
Petitioners were not naive investors and should have 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 appeals in these cases 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 petitioners did not exercise the due care of reasonable and ordinarily prudent persons under the circumstances. Consequently, the Court holds that petitioners are liable for the negligence additions to tax under
The second issue is whether petitioners are liable for the addition to tax under*221
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
*224 Finally,
Petitioners have failed to prove that they had substantial authority for their treatment of the partnership loss and that they adequately disclosed the relevant facts of that treatment. The understatement upon which the addition to tax was imposed was $ 8,858. The understatement is substantial because it exceeds the greater of $ 5,000 or 10 percent*225 of the amount required to be shown on the return. 11 On this record, the Court holds that petitioners are liable for the addition to tax under
Finally, to the extent the Court has failed to address an argument of petitioners herein, the Court concludes such argument is without merit.
Decisions will be entered for respondent.
Footnotes
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.↩
*. Fifty percent of the interest due on $ 8,858.
** Fifty percent of the interest due on $ 201.↩
2. The private placement memorandum consisted of some 47 pages, plus 8 exhibits, and a table of contents.↩
3. During May 1985, petitioners filed an amended return for 1982 reporting an increase in adjusted gross income of $ 17,265 due to the disallowance of another partnership loss claimed on their original 1982 return. On the amended return, petitioners reported a total tax liability of $ 8,617.↩
4. During December 1987, petitioners filed an amended return for 1983 reporting an increase in adjusted gross income of $ 6,132 due to respondent's disqualification of a pension and profit-sharing plan to which petitioner made contributions during 1983. On the amended return, petitioners reported a total tax liability of $ 10,360.↩
5. The tax matters partner of Blythe II signed a stipulation to be bound by the outcome of
Utah Jojoba I Research v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo 1998-6↩ .6. Eighteen docketed cases were bound by stipulation by the outcome of
Utah Jojoba I Research v. Commissioner, supra.↩ 7. The Internal Revenue Service Restructuring & Reform Act of 1998, Pub. L. 105-206, sec. 3001, 112 Stat. 685, 726, added sec. 7491(c), which shifts the burden of proof to 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. Petitioners do not contend that their examination commenced after July 22, 1998, or that sec. 7491 is applicable in these cases.↩
8. In the instant cases, the Blythe II offering is included in evidence as a stipulated exhibit; however, the stipulated exhibit contains an incomplete copy of the R & D agreement that was attached to the original offering. To the extent that relevant facts are omitted due to the incomplete copy of the R & D agreement (or other incomplete pieces of evidence) in the instant cases, the Court must rely on findings of fact in
Utah Jojoba I Research v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo 1998-6 , to which the partners of Blythe II agreed to be bound. It is petitioners' burden to establish the context in which their deductions were taken. See Rule 142(a);Welch v. Helvering, 290 U.S. 111, 115, 78 L. Ed. 212, 54 S. Ct. 8 ;Bixby v. Commissioner, 58 T.C. 757, 791↩ (1972) .9. In
Utah Jojoba I Research v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo 1998-6↩ , the Court noted that there were experimental jojoba plantations located at the University of California at Riverside, California, of which the general partner of Blythe II, Mr. Kellen, was aware.10. 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.↩
11. The amount required to be shown on the return was $ 17,475, 10 percent of which equals $ 1,747.50.↩
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.