Evelyn M. Martin - Page 13




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          that petitioner had “actual knowledge * * * of any item giving              
          rise to a deficiency (or portion thereof) which is not allocable            
          to [petitioner]”.2                                                          
               The concept of actual knowledge under section 6015(c) has              
          been addressed by this Court in Charlton v. Commissioner, 114               
          T.C. 333, 341-342 (2000), where relief was granted, and Cheshire            
          v. Commisioner, 115 T.C. __, __ (2000) (slip op. at 17-23), where           
          relief was denied.                                                          
               In Charlton v. Commissioner, supra, a recent application of            
          the innocent spouse rule, we explained that a section 6015(c)               
          election “is not valid if respondent shows that the individual              
          making the election had actual knowledge when signing the return            
          of any ‘item’ giving rise to a deficiency (or portion thereof)              
          which is not allocable to the electing individual.”  Id. at 341.            
          In Charlton, the taxpayer seeking relief was aware that the                 
          source of income was his wife’s business, but he did not compare            
          records provided him by his wife with other business records to             
          determine whether his wife had accounted for all of the income.             
          Although Mr. Charlton had actual knowledge of income from a                 
          particular source and knew generally of his spouse’s source of              
          income, he had no knowledge that all income from that source had            


               2 Respondent, has agreed that petitioner is entitled to sec.           
          6015(c) relief with respect to three items other than the Primera           
          transaction.  The only question we consider here is whether                 
          petitioner had “actual knowledge” within the meaning of sec.                
          6015(c).                                                                    





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