- 8 - income was not so extraordinary as to lead a reasonably prudent person in her position to be alerted to problems. As we have said before, innocent spouse relief is designed to protect the innocent, not the intentionally ignorant. Cohen v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1987-537; Dickey v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1985-478. We are not persuaded that Mrs. Barnhill did not have reason to know that there were substantial understatements of tax on the returns in issue. Moreover, there is no evidence that it would be inequitable to hold Mrs. Barnhill liable for the deficiencies in issue here. This is not a case where the spouse seeking relief has been left alone to satisfy the deficiencies. Cf. Pietromonaco v. Commissioner, supra; Price v. Commissioner, supra. Petitioners are still married and continue to share the benefits and burdens of that relationship just as they shared the benefits of the tax savings claimed on the joint returns for the years in issue. They have pointed to no circumstances that make it unfair to hold her to the liability determined with respect to those joint returns. A party to a joint return is not relieved of liability merely because the transactions reported on the return are all attributable to the other spouse. We agree with respondent that Mrs. Barnhill has failed to satisfy the requirements of either section 6013(e)(1)(C) or (D). To reflect the stipulation of settled issues and our determination herein,Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Next
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