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under section 6015(f) where a claim for relief from joint and
several liability was raised as an affirmative defense in a
petition for redetermination of a deficiency filed pursuant to
section 6213(a). We interpreted the term “under this section” in
section 6015(e)(1)(A) to include all subsections of section 6015.
Butler v. Commissioner, supra at 289-290. We found nothing in
section 6015(e) that precluded our review of the Commissioner’s
denial of equitable relief pursuant to section 6015(f) where the
taxpayer makes an election for relief pursuant to section 6015(b)
or (c). Id. Additionally, we rejected the Commissioner’s
argument that his authority to grant equitable relief is
committed to agency discretion because we found that the
circumstances allowing action to be committed solely to agency
discretion were not present. Id. at 291.
In Fernandez v. Commissioner, supra, we addressed the issue
of whether we have authority to review a denial of relief under
section 6015(f) where a “stand alone” petition is filed pursuant
to section 6015(e). We described section 6015(f) as follows:
Section 6015(f) provides that the Commissioner may
relieve an individual of liability if, taking into
account all the facts and circumstances, it is
inequitable to hold the individual liable for any
unpaid tax or deficiency (or portion thereof) * * *
[Id. at 332; emphasis added.]
As we did in Butler v. Commissioner, supra, we expressed the view
that Congress intended the term “under this section” in section
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