John A. and Donna L. Rowe - Page 10




                                       - 10 -                                         
          former section 6013.  Petitioner claims that the facts on which             
          this Court based its opinion were open and obvious and gave no              
          reason for respondent to refuse to grant relief.  Finally,                  
          petitioner contends that caselaw under former section 6013(e) and           
          current section 6015 lead to the conclusion that relief from                
          joint and several liability was warranted in this case.                     
               In making her claim for litigation costs, petitioner does              
          not argue that respondent was not substantially justified in                
          determining the amounts of the deficiencies, additions to tax,              
          and penalties contained in the notices of deficiency.  Rather,              
          petitioner’s claim is based on respondent’s position with respect           
          to whether petitioner was entitled to relief from joint and                 
          several liability for the deficiencies, additions to tax, and               
          penalties.9  Thus, the relevant inquiry is whether respondent’s             
          position regarding petitioner’s entitlement to such relief was              
          substantially justified.                                                    
               In their original petitions filed in 1993 and 1994,                    
          petitioner and Mr. Rowe disputed all the determinations contained           


               8(...continued)                                                        
          substantial understatement; and (4) under the circumstances it              
          would be inequitable to hold the spouse seeking relief liable for           
          the substantial understatement.                                             
               9We note that petitioner’s motion specifically addresses               
          only the issues argued on brief by the parties and addressed by             
          this Court in Rowe I.  Petitioner’s motion does not specifically            
          allege that respondent was not substantially justified with                 
          respect to the items for which he granted petitioner relief under           
          sec. 6015.                                                                  





Page:  Previous  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  13  14  15  16  17  18  19  20  Next

Last modified: May 25, 2011