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review the Commissioner's decision to deny 6015(f) relief when a
taxpayer filed a petition to redetermine a deficiency asserted
against her. We concluded that we did, because we had for a very
long time treated claims for innocent spouse relief under old
section 6013(e), Act of Jan. 12, 1971, Pub. L. 91-679, 84 Stat.
2063, 2063-2064, repealed by Internal Revenue Service
Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998, Pub. L. 105-206, sec.
3201(e)(1), 112 Stat. 685, 740 (1998), as "affirmative defenses"
to the Commissioner's deficiency determination. Butler, 114 T.C.
at 287-288. This followed logically from our general rule that a
petition to redetermine a deficiency gives us jurisdiction over
the entire deficiency and not just the particular items listed in
the notice of deficiency.
So unless there had been some change in the law, a taxpayer
challenging a notice of deficiency could, after enactment of
section 6015, continue to argue that he was an innocent spouse.
What made Butler notable is that the Commissioner argued that
section 6015(e)4 was precisely such a change in the law--that
4 Sec. 6015(e) (as before the 2000 amendment):
SEC. 6015(e). Petition for Review by Tax Court.--
(1) In general.--In the case of an
individual who elects to have subsection (b)
or (c) apply--
(A) In general.--The individual
may petition the Tax Court (and the Tax
Court shall have jurisdiction) to
(continued...)
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