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1997, refund claim based on section 6015(f) does not relate back
to petitioner’s and Kohl’s pre-September 5, 1997, letters.
Our conclusion is consistent with the conclusion of a
District Court which held that an untimely tax refund claim under
section 6511(a) for relief from joint liability under section
6015 did not relate back to a timely refund claim for a capital
loss deduction. Choate v. United States, 218 F.R.D. 677 (S.D.
Cal. 2003). The taxpayer in Choate filed joint returns for 1988
and 1989. Taxes for those years were paid in full on May 13,
1998. On January 22, 1999, the taxpayer filed a refund claim for
1989 based on a capital loss. The Commissioner allowed the
claim. On January 30, 2001, the taxpayer sought an additional
refund by filing a claim for relief from joint liability under
section 6015 for 1989. The Commissioner disallowed the
additional refund claim because it was not timely filed under
section 6511(a). The District Court said that the later claim
was not an amendment to the original claim because it would have
required examination of matters not germane to the original
claim. Id. at 680. The District Court held that it lacked
jurisdiction over the taxpayer’s claim for relief. Id.
Petitioner contends that the holding in Choate that the
claimed amendment to the taxpayer’s refund claim was untimely
does not apply here because of the following differences between
this case and Choate: (a) The taxpayer in Choate actually
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