- 10 -
with respect to liability for taxes arising or remaining unpaid
on or after the December 20, 2006, date of enactment. Id.
Once again, in light of the change in the law, the Court on
December 26, 2006, issued an order directing the parties to show
cause why the earlier dismissal for lack of jurisdiction should
not be vacated. Respondent filed a response confirming that
petitioner’s liabilities for the relevant years remain unpaid and
that the Court now has jurisdiction to review the underlying
determination. The Court issued an order vacating the
October 24, 2006, dismissal on January 11, 2007. This matter is
now in a posture to be addressed on the merits.
OPINION
As a general rule, section 6013(d)(3) provides that “if a
joint return is made, the tax shall be computed on the aggregate
income and the liability with respect to the tax shall be joint
and several.” An exception to such joint and several liability
exists, however, for spouses able to satisfy the statutory
requirements for relief set forth in section 6015.
Section 6015 authorizes three types of relief. Subsection
(b) provides a form of full or partial relief available to all
joint filers and similar to, but less restrictive than, that
previously afforded by former section 6013(e), which was repealed
for taxes remaining unpaid as of July 22, 1998, or arising after
that date. Subsection (c) permits a taxpayer who has divorced or
Page: Previous 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Next
Last modified: November 10, 2007