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It would appear that you allowed your husband to
prepare a joint return and to sign your name to it.
You filed a separate return 30 months later. That
action and the other facts of the case are consistent
with changing one’s mind, not with having the intent
to file separately initially.
Based upon that conclusion, which is inconsistent with the
treatment of the separate return, respondent’s consideration of
petitioner’s claim for section 6015 relief proceeded as though
petitioner filed a joint Federal income tax return for 1992.
In the petition, petitioner alleges that, with respect to
the joint return, Mr. Stimeling “filed our 1992 taxes without my
signature. * * * I kept asking him when I was going to need to
sign it. Finally he told me he had signed it.” At trial,
petitioner readily admitted that she agreed to file a joint
return with Mr. Stimeling, but with the expectation that before
the return was filed she would have the opportunity to review and
sign the return. She further explained that she agreed to the
installment agreement in order to avoid embarrassment in her work
place.
Petitioner’s credible trial testimony supports the
allegations made in the petition. Petitioner did not review or
sign the joint return before it was filed. Furthermore, we
accept her claim that she did not authorize her former spouse to
sign her name to the joint return.
Respondent’s reasons for processing the separate return
after the joint return have not been explained. Nevertheless,
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Last modified: May 25, 2011