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(e) Significant benefit. Whether the requesting spouse
received significant benefit (beyond normal support) from the
unpaid income tax liability. Petitioner credibly testified that
she received no gifts or other benefits from the unpaid tax
liability. Mr. Meadows did not honor his child support
obligations under the divorce decree and at one point simply
remained out of touch with his family for 2 years. This factor
weighs in favor of petitioner.
(f) Compliance with income tax laws. Whether the requesting
spouse has made a good faith effort to comply with income tax laws
in the taxable years following the taxable year to which the
request for relief relates. Petitioner filed a tax return for the
2000 tax year, but did not file tax returns for any subsequent
years. Petitioner testified that the reason for her failure to
file was that she believed she was owed a tax refund with respect
to the 2000 tax year which, according to her accountant, would
have been jeopardized by subsequent filings that might have shown
tax due. In other words, petitioner admitted that she might owe
taxes for years after 2000, as she had owed taxes for some years
before 1999, and that the Government might offset her claimed
refund for the 2000 tax year against taxes owed for subsequent tax
years.4
4We note that petitioner’s youngest child, for whom she
claimed the child tax credit in 1999, attained the age of 17 in
(continued...)
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