2. Knowledge or Reason to Know of the Substantial Understatement Petitioner must show that she did not know or have reason to know of the substantial understatements attributable to her husband's tax shelter investment when she signed the 1983 return and application for refund filed in 1984. a. Actual Knowledge We must first decide whether petitioner had actual knowledge of the understatements when she signed the 1983 return and the application for refund. Respondent does not contend that petitioner knew about the understatements at that time. The record does not contain any evidence indicating that petitioner had actual knowledge of the understatements. Thus, we find that petitioner did not have actual knowledge of the understatements when she signed the 1983 return and application for refund. b. Reason to Know We must next decide whether petitioner had reason to know of the substantial understatements of income tax when she signed the 1983 return and application for refund filed in 1984. Respondent contends that petitioner had reason to know of the understatements caused by the Saxon investment tax credit carrybacks. For the following reasons, we agree with respondent that petitioner had reason to know of the substantial understatements of tax at the critical time, and that, therefore, petitioner does not qualify for relief as an innocent spouse. The standard to be applied in determining whether a taxpayer "had reason to know" is whether a reasonably prudent person underPage: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011