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to believe that her reasoning for requesting relief was solely
because intervenor would sometimes withdraw money from his IRA
and give it directly to his individual children without
consulting her or informing petitioner.
Although petitioner may not have known the exact amount
intervenor withdrew from his IRA during the year at issue, she
readily admitted she knew that withdrawals were made and
deposited into their joint bank account. Petitioner and
intervenor testified that their 2001 Federal income tax return
was prepared by a commercial tax preparation service, H&R Block.
Both parties signed the return; therefore, petitioner had reason
to know that the return she signed contained a substantial
understatement. Thus, petitioner is not entitled to relief under
section 6015(b).
The second avenue for relief is section 6015(c). Section
6015(c) affords proportionate relief to the requesting spouse
through allocation to the responsible party. Generally, this
avenue of relief allows a spouse to elect to be treated as if a
separate return had been filed. Rowe v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo.
2001-325. To be eligible for relief under section 6015(c), the
requesting spouse must no longer be married to, or must be
legally separated from, the individual with whom the tax return
was filed and must have elected the applicability of section
6015(c) not later than 2 years after the date on which collection
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