Estate's Refund Claim Not Timely Because Testimony of Physician Not Credible.

The decedent died in 2005 and had not filed returns for 2001-2004.  The returns were late-filed shortly before the decedent's death with the return for 2001 reporting an overpayment of nearly $50,000.  The estate sought to have the overpayment credited to the 2002 tax year.  The estate also claimed that the decedent had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's/dementia which prevented the decedent from timely filing the returns and, thus, was entitled to an extension of time to file the returns via I.R.C. Sec. 6511(h).  The IRS denied the refund claim and the estate sued.  The court denied the extension of time to file because the evidence showed that the decedent had lived alone, cared for himself, cooked his own meals, fed and clothed himself, and made a lot of money buying and selling securities and investing.  The decedent's primary care physician testified to the contrary, but had earlier written a report for the state Vehicle Administration that the decedent did not have dementia.  The court determined that the physician's earlier report was more credible and his testimony was not reliable.  Thus, I.R.C. Sec. 6511(h) did not apply and the estate could not apply the overpayment to the 2002 tax year.  Estate of Rubinstein v. United States, No. 09-291T, 2015 U.S. Claims LEXIS 41 (Fed. Cl. Jan. 29, 2015).