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OPINION
HOLMES, Judge: Suzanne Vance Fain filed this case when the
Commissioner refused to grant her innocent-spouse relief from her
unpaid tax liability for 1999. Her case was already on a trial
calendar when Commissioner’s counsel realized that the IRS had
not notified her husband of his right to intervene. That turned
out to be impossible--he was dead.
We are called to plug a small but noticeable gap in the tax
law--is a nonrequesting spouse’s right to intervene extinguished
by death or does it instead pass to a successor-in-interest?
Background
According to the pleadings already filed in this case, the
Fains filed a joint tax return for 1999. It showed that they
owed about $15,000, but neither Fain paid. The couple later
separated, and eventually the Commissioner began to try to
collect the unpaid tax.
In February 2006, Suzanne filed a request for innocent-
spouse relief under section 60151 with the Commissioner. He
denied it in September 2006, and Suzanne filed a petition seeking
review with this Court. Section 6015(e)(4) required us to issue
rules that provide nonrequesting spouses “with adequate notice
1 Unless otherwise indicated, all section references are to
the Internal Revenue Code for the year in issue, and all Rule
references are to the Tax Court Rules of Practice and Procedure.
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Last modified: November 10, 2007