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offset). At or about that time, respondent sent petitioner a
letter notifying her of the offset. This letter was not in
respondent’s administrative file and is not a part of the record,
but based on petitioner’s testimony and the parties’ agreement at
trial, this notice is consistent with a similar notice petitioner
received on August 13, 2001. Neither of the notices sent to
petitioner regarding the offset advised petitioner of her
potential rights to relief under section 6015. As a result,
petitioner was unaware of those rights until she hired an
attorney in late 2001 after a problem arose with her credit
rating because a notice of Federal tax lien had been filed on her
residence. On February 17, 2002, petitioner filed with
respondent an executed Form 8857 with respect to the 1997
liability.
Discussion
Section 6013(d)(3) provides that married individuals who
file a joint return are jointly and severally liable for the tax
arising from the return. Section 6015 provides that
notwithstanding section 6013(d)(3), an individual who filed a
joint return may seek relief from joint liability under three
specific alternatives set forth in subsections (b), (c), and (f)
of section 6015. This case only involves a request for relief
under subsection (f), which provides that the Secretary may
relieve an individual of joint liability if subsections (b) and
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