- 13 - any meaningful answers to any questions she from time to time asked. As stated in Friedman, the fact that the innocent spouse- taxpayer knows of the existence of a tax shelter, and the deductions it hopefully gives rise to, does not itself establish that she cannot meet the lack of knowledge requirement of section 6013(e)(1)(C). Friedman v. Commissioner, supra at 530. In the case before us, petitioner testified that she knew that Harvey was in the business of selling tax shelters, but was unaware that he was investing in them himself. While this profession of lack of knowledge is of course self-serving, petitioner's additional testimony rings true, namely, that she was led to believe, at least during the relevant years, that tax shelters were on the up and up and were, like IRAs, a legitimate way to save taxes. In the era that encompassed the years 1976-1978, individuals far more financially sophisticated than petitioner let themselves believe that the tooth fairy in the guise of a tax shelter would bring them substantial wealth, at little or no cost to themselves, which would be entirely paid for out of the National fisc as tax savings. We, therefore, hold that petitioner had no reason to know that the returns for the relevant years contained substantial understatements of tax. To meet the fourth requirement imposed by section 6013(e) to validate an innocent spouse claim, the taxpayer must establishPage: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Next
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