- 24 -
financial and business affairs, and we accepted petitioner’s
testimony that the amount tithed to the church was Mr. Rowe’s
decision. We held that petitioner was entitled to relief under
section 6015(c) for the half of the charitable contributions
allocable to Mr. Rowe.
Respondent’s position that petitioner had actual knowledge
that charitable contributions for 1988 and 1989 were not made was
based on the fact that petitioner wrote the checks for the 1987
contributions, but no checks were presented to establish payments
to the church in 1988 and 1989. Additionally, petitioner
testified that she regularly attended the church and was very
involved in church activities. Petitioner further testified that
she was “told when to write checks to the church”, and she wrote
checks only when directed by Mr. Rowe. Under these
circumstances, we believe that respondent had a reasonable basis
to argue that petitioner had actual knowledge that the charitable
contributions were not made in 1988 and 1989.
3. Section 6015(f)
Section 6015(f) permits the Secretary to relieve a spouse of
liability if, taking into account all the facts and
circumstances, it is inequitable to hold the spouse liable for
any unpaid tax or deficiency (or any portion of either) and
relief is not otherwise available under section 6015(b) or (c).
Sec. 6015(f); Cheshire v. Commissioner, 115 T.C. 183, 197 (2000),
Page: Previous 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 NextLast modified: May 25, 2011