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Ewing v. Commissioner, 118 T.C. 494 (2002) (Ewing I),2 we held
that the Tax Court had jurisdiction over nondeficiency stand-
alone petitions like Billings’s. The Ninth Circuit has now
reversed us, Commissioner v. Ewing, 439 F.3d 1009 (9th Cir.
2006), revg. Ewing I, 118 T.C. 494, vacating 122 T.C. 32 (2004);
the Eighth Circuit has adopted the Ninth Circuit’s position,
Bartman v. Commissioner, 446 F.3d 785, 787 (8th Cir. 2006), affg.
in part, vacating in part T.C. Memo. 2004-93; and the Second
Circuit has questioned our decision, see Maier v. Commissioner,
360 F.3d 361, 363 n.1 (2d Cir. 2004), affg. 119 T.C. 267 (2002).
Billings's case is one of the large number of nondeficiency
stand-alone cases that began accumulating on our docket while
Ewing I was on appeal. We now revisit the question of whether we
have jurisdiction to review the Commissioner's decisions to deny
relief under section 6015(f) when there is no deficiency but tax
went unpaid.
Background
David Billings was well into a 30-year career at General
Motors when he married Rosalee in 1996. Rosalee herself was a
payroll clerk at South Kansas City Electric Company. The
Billingses kept two checking accounts, and while both were
2 There is yet another Opinion in this case--Ewing v.
Commissioner, 122 T.C. 32 (2004)--but it dealt with our power to
consider evidence outside the administrative record in reviewing
the Commissioner's decisions.
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