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of 1998 (RRA), Pub. L. 105-206, sec. 3201(a), 112 Stat. 732.
Section 6015 applies to any tax liability from a joint return
arising after July 22, 1998, or any tax liability arising on or
before July 22, 1998, that remains unpaid as of such date. RRA
sec. 3201(g)(1), 112 Stat. 740.
Prior to the enactment of section 6015, the only avenue for
relief from joint and several liability was through the former
section 6013(e).2 Section 6013(e) was repealed when section 6015
was enacted. RRA sec. 3201(e), 112 Stat. 740. For a detailed
discussion of the legislative history of section 6015 and its
predecessor section 6013(e), see Cheshire v. Commissioner, 115
T.C. 183, 188-189 (2000), affd. 282 F.3d 326 (5th Cir. 2002).
In the present case, petitioner’s tax liabilities for 1994
and 1995 were paid in full on February 3, 1998, which is prior to
the effective date of section 6015. Consequently, petitioner is
not entitled to relief under section 6015, and her sole avenue
for relief is under the former section 6013(e).
Under the former section 6013(e), a claim in this Court for
relief from joint liability was pleaded as an affirmative defense
2 The former sec. 6013(e) provided the following four
requirements: (1) A joint return was filed for the year at issue;
(2) the return contained a substantial understatement of tax
attributable to grossly erroneous items of the other spouse; (3)
the spouse seeking relief establishes that, in signing the
return, he or she did not know, and had no reason to know, of the
substantial understatement; and (4) it would be inequitable to
hold the spouse seeking relief liable for the substantial
understatement.
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