Sandrus L. Collier - Page 20




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          lier and respondent made a mutual mistake of fact in stipulating            
          that Ms. Collier and Mr. Collier jointly filed tax returns for              
          1990 and 1991.                                                              
               On the record before us, we find that Ms. Collier satisfies            
          for 1990 and 1991 the threshold condition set forth in section              
          4.01(1) of Revenue Procedure 2000-15 (i.e., the requesting spouse           


               16(...continued)                                                       
          through 1991 jointly with Mr. Collier, although she inconsis-               
          tently testified that she did not know that a joint tax return              
          was being filed for taxable year 1991.  Although Ms. Collier at             
          first testified that she did not know that a joint tax return for           
          1990 was being filed, she changed her testimony to state that “I            
          knew he [Mr. Collier] was filing jointly [for 1990], but I didn’t           
          know if he had filed”.  We also note that Ms. Collier filed tax             
          returns jointly with Mr. Collier for 1987, 1988, and 1989, and              
          she does not contend that she did not file tax returns jointly              
          with him for taxable years 1979 through 1986 during which they              
          were married.  That customary practice of filing tax returns for            
          years before 1990 and 1991 jointly with Mr. Collier strongly                
          indicates that Ms. Collier and Mr. Collier intended to file                 
          jointly for 1990 and 1991.  See Estate of Campbell v. Commis-               
          sioner, 56 T.C. 1, 12-13 (1971); Federbush v. Commissioner, 34              
          T.C. 740, 757-758 (1960), affd. per curiam 325 F.2d 1 (2d Cir.              
          1963); cf. Helfrich v. Commissioner, 25 T.C. 404, 407-408 (1955)            
          (where there was no history of joint filing and nonsigning spouse           
          did not know that a joint return had been filed or prepared, the            
          Court was unable to conclude, without more, that the inclusion of           
          income attributable to nonsigning spouse was indicative of an               
          intent to file a joint return).  We reject Ms. Collier’s claim on           
          brief that her practice of filing tax returns jointly with Mr.              
          Collier changed for taxable years 1990 and 1991.  In this regard,           
          we note (1) that Ms. Collier did not file separate returns for              
          1990 and 1991, years for which she had wage income of $32,689 and           
          $33,000, respectively, see Howell v. Commissioner, 10 T.C. 859,             
          866 (1948), affd. per curiam 175 F.2d 240 (6th Cir. 1949), and              
          (2) that the 1990 and 1991 joint returns reported Ms. Collier’s             
          respective wages for those years, and Ms. Collier’s Form W-2 was            
          attached to the 1990 joint return, see Federbush v. Commissioner,           
          supra at 756; Heim v. Commissioner, 27 T.C. 270, 274 (1956),                
          affd. 251 F.2d 44 (8th Cir. 1958).                                          






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