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overpayment credits to petitioner and Mr. Barrera’s outstanding
tax liabilities for taxable years 1998, 1999, and 2000.
On September 13, 2002, petitioner filed Form 8857, Request
for Innocent Spouse Relief (And Separation of Liability and
Equitable Relief) (Form 8857), with the IRS seeking relief from
joint and several liability for taxable years 1998, 1999, and
2000.8 Mr. Barrera prepared and filled out the Form 8857 for
petitioner, and petitioner signed and dated it. Petitioner did
not read or otherwise review the Form 8857 when she signed it.
Mr. Barrera explained to petitioner that the innocent spouse
relief related to tax issues arising from the failure of his
mortgage brokerage business. From Mr. Barrera’s explanation,
petitioner understood the Form 8857 to mean that whatever
happened with respect to Mr. Barrera’s mortgage brokerage
business would relate only to the business and thus would never
affect her. Petitioner did understand that Mr. Barrera’s
mortgage brokerage business was organized as a corporation and
8 In her Form 8857, petitioner also sought relief under
sec. 6015 with respect to taxable years 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997,
and 2001. As discussed infra, the IRS granted petitioner relief
under sec. 6015(c) with respect to taxable year 1995, and that
year is not at issue in the instant case. Taxable year 1994 was
not further considered because petitioner was not married to Mr.
Barrera in 1994 and did not file a joint return with him for that
year. Taxable years 1996, 1997, and 2001 were also not further
considered because petitioner and Mr. Barrera did not have
outstanding tax liabilities for those years.
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Last modified: November 10, 2007