- 10 -
is considered community property. See Goodell v. Koch, 282 U.S.
118 (1930); Beall v. Commissioner, 82 T.C. 70 (1984). Under the
law of Arizona, the physical separation of petitioner and Peggy
Layman did not alter the community character of petitioner's
post-separation earnings in 1991, 1992, and 1993. Consequently,
since petitioner and Peggy Layman were not legally separated, the
community property laws of Arizona apply to petitioner's earnings
for the taxable years 1991, 1992, and 1993.
II. Application of Section 66(b)
Section 66(b) authorizes the Commissioner to disallow the
benefits of any community property law to a taxpayer with respect
to any income if (1) the taxpayer acted as if solely entitled to
such income, and (2) the taxpayer failed to notify the taxpayer's
spouse of the nature and amount of such income before the due
date for filing the return. See Mischel v. Commissioner, T.C.
Memo. 1997-350; Schramm v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1991-523,
affd. without published opinion 988 F.2d 121 (9th Cir. 1993).
Where a notice of deficiency fails to describe the basis on
which the Commissioner relies to support a deficiency
determination and that basis requires the presentation of
evidence that is different from that which would be necessary to
resolve the determinations that were described in the notice of
deficiency, the Commissioner will bear the burden of proof
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011