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limitations placed on a refund; section 6015(g) specifically
provides that no refunds can be made with respect to relief granted
under section 6015(c). There is no such restriction for relief for
an unpaid tax granted under section 6015(f).
Respondent contends that the court’s holding in Flores v.
United States, supra, leads to a result that Congress did not
intend. Respondent notes that a taxpayer who paid the entire
liability would not be entitled to relief. Respondent asserts that
only under a “strained interpretation” could Congress have intended
this result. Therefore, respondent contends, Congress’s intent
must have been to allow relief only with respect to amounts that
remain uncollected after July 22, 1998. We disagree.
Congress obviously had to set a cutoff for claims for relief
under section 6015; otherwise, claims for refunds could go back for
decades. We believe that Congress wanted to grant the broadest
relief, while providing for certainty in the settlement of tax
refund claims. In setting the cutoff for claims for relief,
Congress treated claims related to liabilities for taxes that were
satisfied as of the date of enactment as settled as of that date.
Section 6015 relief is available for all claims related to tax
liabilities that were not settled as of July 22, 1998. Further,
the disparity in the treatment of taxpayers who have paid the
liability in full as of July 22, 1998, and those who have partially
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