- 10 -
accompanying the recommendation to deny relief. Res judicata was
not raised in the original answer filed in this case on
August 13, 2001--more than 3 years after the effective date of
section 6015. For the first time, in a Motion for Leave to File
Amendment to Answer, filed April 9, 2002, respondent stated:
Upon preparation for trial, respondent’s counsel
discovered that the petitioner materially participated
in a prior proceeding for the 1994 tax year before the
U.S. Tax Court, whereby a Decision document was signed
by petitioner on December 1, 1998, the respondent on
December 16, 1998, and entered by the Court on
December 17, 1998.
McClellan was not available to testify at trial, and we do not
know his rationale for declining to consider petitioner’s request
for relief from joint liability. We assume, however, that he was
aware that proposed legislation would give taxpayers an
opportunity to raise that claim in a later action but, like
petitioner, was unaware of the res judicata effect of closing a
deficiency case under the circumstances then existing.
Section 1.6015-1(e), Income Tax Regs., 67 Fed. Reg. 46286
(daily ed. July 18, 2002), effective with respect to requests for
relief filed on or after July 18, 2002, provides:
(e) Res judicata and collateral estoppel. A
requesting spouse is barred from relief from joint and
several liability under section 6015 by res judicata
for any tax year for which a court of competent
jurisdiction has rendered a final decision on the
requesting spouse’s tax liability if relief under
section 6015 was at issue in the prior proceeding, or
if the requesting spouse meaningfully participated in
that proceeding and could have raised relief under
section 6015. A requesting spouse has not meaningfully
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011