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responded to the final notice by timely filing a Form 12153,
Request for a Collection Due Process Hearing. In pertinent part,
petitioner’s Form 12153 stated: “The amount owed should be
shared between both spouses. We are presently separated
(legally) and have filed for a divorce with the State of Georgia
where Mrs. Thorpe now resides permanently”.
The Form 12153 purportedly was filed jointly by petitioner
and Mrs. Thorpe, but actually petitioner filed the request for a
CDP hearing without Mrs. Thorpe’s knowledge and consent and
printed her signature on the form. Petitioner provided Mrs.
Thorpe’s Social Security number and current home address on the
Form 12153, and respondent’s Appeals Office attempted to contact
her to determine whether she wanted to join the CDP hearing.
Mrs. Thorpe did not respond to respondent’s notification attempt
and was not a party to the CDP hearing.
The Form 12153 includes the following instruction: “If you
believe that your spouse or former spouse should be responsible
for all or a portion of the tax liability from your tax return,
check here [__] and attach Form 8857, Request for Innocent Spouse
Relief, to this request.” Petitioner placed a check mark in the
box, but did not attached a Form 8857 to the Form 12153. On
November 28, 2001, the Appeals Office sent petitioner an
additional copy of a Form 8857 to complete and return if he still
wanted to allocate the tax liability between himself and Mrs.
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Last modified: May 25, 2011