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electronic filings. Section 6061(b), titled "ELECTRONIC
SIGNATURES", provides that "The Secretary shall develop
procedures for the acceptance of signatures in digital or other
electronic form." It authorizes the Secretary to "waive the
requirement of a signature" until such procedures are in place.
Sec. 6061(b)(1)(A). If there were any doubt, however, as to the
application of the statute, it is clear from its legislative
history that section 6061(b) was promulgated to promote paperless
electronic filing by eliminating the need to file a paper form
with a manual signature in addition to the electronic filing.
See S. Rept. 105-174 (1998). Furthermore, even if section
6061(b) did authorize the Secretary to waive the signature
requirement for any tax return, the language of the statute is
discretionary and does not require such a waiver.
Petitioner's second argument that the purported return is a
valid 1995 Federal income tax return because he and his former
spouse intended it to be their joint return at the time of filing
also is without merit. We have long held that if an "income tax
return is intended by both spouses as a joint return, the absence
of the signature of one spouse does not prevent their intention
from being realized." Estate of Campbell v. Commissioner, 56
T.C. 1, 12 (1971) (emphasis added); see Ebeling v. Commissioner,
T.C. Memo. 1994-277, affd. without published opinion 76 F.3d 385
(9th Cir. 1996); Hammann v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1987-260.
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