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not provide information specifying how each item giving rise to
the Thorpes’ 1997 tax liability should be allocated for purposes
of section 6015(d), but he stated that the tax liability should
be evenly divided between the spouses and furnished a divorce
decree to that effect.
Petitioner’s statement on the Form 12153 sufficiently
communicated the elements required under section 6015(c) and
should be considered a valid separate liability election. The
Appeals officer’s refusal to consider petitioner’s request for
relief under section 6015(c) was based upon his absolute
requirement that petitioner file a Form 8857 without regard to
whether petitioner filed an equivalent written request for
relief. Although petitioner plainly had requested relief from
joint and several liability on his Form 12153 and provided a copy
of his divorce decree requiring an even split of the tax
liability, the Appeals officer declined to investigate the issue
further and instead suggested that petitioner take “recourse in
civil court” regardless of the cost and inconvenience of further
action in State courts.
While the Appeals officer was not bound by the allocation
set forth in the divorce decree, the statement on petitioner’s
Form 12153, supplemented by the relevant portion of the divorce
decree, qualifies as a section 6015(c) election. If petitioner
was not entitled to section 6015(c) relief according to the
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Last modified: May 25, 2011