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OPINION
HOLMES, Judge: In 1999, Rosalee Billings began embezzling
money from her employer. She kept her husband in the dark about
her embezzlement and didn’t report the ill-gotten income on their
joint return. After she was caught in 2000, she confessed her
theft to him, and together they signed an amended joint return
that reported the stolen income and showed a hefty increase in
the tax owed. He asked the Commissioner to be relieved of joint
liability for the increased tax, but his request was refused
because he knew about the embezzled income when he signed the
amended return, and also knew that the increased tax shown on
that amended return was not going to be paid.
Billings began his case in our Court by filing a
“nondeficiency stand-alone” petition--“nondeficiency” because the
IRS accepted his amended return as filed and asserted no
deficiency against him, and “stand-alone” because his claim for
innocent spouse relief was made under section 6015 and not as
part of a deficiency action or in response to an IRS decision to
begin collecting his tax debt through liens or levies. The
particular part of section 6015 under which he seeks relief is
section 6015(f).1 This subsection is the only one available to
spouses against whom the IRS has not asserted a deficiency. In
1 Section references are to the Internal Revenue Code; Rule
references are to the Tax Court Rules of Practice and Procedure.
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Last modified: May 25, 2011