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to file a Federal income tax return of her own for any year in
issue. Any tax deficiencies attributable to her could only be
due to a determination by respondent that she had elected to file
joint returns. Thus, when the 30-day letter was sent, the
central issues for petitioner Vivian Burke were whether she
signed the purported joint returns, and, if not, whether she
tacitly consented to their filing.11
Second, petitioner maintains that even if she had availed
herself of the available administrative remedies, it would have
been of no consequence. In discussing the importance of the
exhaustion of administrative remedies requirement, the report of
the House Ways and Means Committee stated that
The committee recognizes that the exhaustion of
remedies requirement may be inappropriate in some
cases. For example, if a notice of deficiency is
issued to a taxpayer in connection with an issue which
the Internal Revenue Service has identified as one
which it will litigate in all cases, then it would be
inappropriate to require an administrative appeal.
11These were the central and, ultimately, decisive issues,
notwithstanding that neither petitioner nor her representatives
alleged that she had not filed joint returns until Mr. Barrella
entered his appearance on petitioner's behalf after the case was
set for trial. Prior to that time, petitioner had affirmatively
alleged that she filed joint returns with Mr. Burke. Indeed,
joint return filing was a requirement for petitioner to prevail
on her claim that she was an innocent spouse. See sec.
6013(e)(1)(A). Petitioner has consistently maintained, even when
she alleged that the returns were jointly filed, that she had no
knowledge of her husband's income-producing activities. She
maintained this position even after amending her petition. The
amount of tax in question was never the focus of petitioner's
individual position. At trial, petitioner's counsel indicated
that petitioner was not interested in issues other than joint
return and innocent spouse status.
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