Federal Tax Research 10th Edition by Steven Gill, Gerald Whittenburg, Roby Sawyers, Debra Sanders, William Raabe

Exercise 32

Blanche Creek has engaged your firm because she has been charged with failure to file her 2013 federal Form 1040. Blanche maintains that the "reasonable cause" exception should apply. During the entire taxfiling season in 2014, she was under a great deal of stress at work and in her personal life. As a result, Blanche developed a sleep disorder, which was treated through a combination of pills and counseling.
Your firm ultimately prepared the 2013 tax return for Blanche, but it was filed far beyond the due date. Blanche is willing to pay the delinquent tax and related interest. However, she feels that the failure-to-pay penalty is unfair, as she was ill. Consequently, she could not be expected to keep to the usual deadlines for filing.
Write a letter to Blanche concerning these matters.