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respondent issued a notice of deficiency to petitioners for their
taxable year 1990. Petitioners timely filed petitions seeking
redeterminations. Petitioners subsequently moved to have their
cases consolidated, and we ordered the cases consolidated for
trial, briefing, and opinion.
Petitioner subsequently made valid elections for relief
under section 6015(b), (c), and (f). Respondent granted
petitioner relief from joint liability with respect to some of
the items giving rise to deficiencies; however, respondent denied
relief with respect to other items.
Overview of Applicable Law
If a joint return is filed, the liability with respect to
the tax is normally joint and several. Sec. 6013(d)(3). In
1971, Congress enacted section 6013(e) to correct perceived
inequities resulting from the imposition of joint and several
liability in certain circumstances. S. Rept. 91-1537, at 2
(1970), 1971-1 C.B. 606, 607. As amended,6 section 6013(e)
provided that a spouse could be relieved of tax liability if the
spouse proved: (1) A joint return was filed; (2) the return
contained a substantial understatement of tax attributable to
6Sec. 6013(e) initially provided relief only in cases
involving an omission of income. The scope of sec. 6013(e) was
expanded in 1984 to provide relief in cases involving erroneous
deductions. Deficit Reduction Act of 1984, Pub. L. 98-369, sec.
424, 98 Stat. 494, 801-803; H. Conf. Rept. 98-861, at 1119
(1984), 1984-3 C.B. (Vol. 2) 1, 373.
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