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petition rather than the amount of relief sought for each
individual year.
Finally, we must determine the date on which the amount of
relief sought must be calculated. This is important because of
the continued accrual of interest. Since we have held that
interest is included in calculating “the amount of relief
sought”, the time for calculating the amount of relief sought
might be critical to determining whether the amount of relief
sought exceeds $50,000. Section 7463(f)(1) explicitly refers to
“a petition to the Tax Court under section 6015(e) in which the
amount of relief sought does not exceed $50,000”. (Emphasis
added.) The plain language of the statute supports the
conclusion that the filing of a petition should be the definitive
moment for determining the amount of relief sought in the Tax
Court.7 Each taxpayer, depending on his or her circumstances,
has the choice of seeking full or partial relief under section
6015(b), proportionate relief under section 6015(c), equitable
relief under section 6015(f), or each in the alternative.
Accordingly, the amount of relief sought must be determined on a
7 Determining the amount of relief sought at the time the
petition is filed also makes practical sense. If the amount of
relief sought is not fixed as of the filing of the petition, a
case that is properly within the dollar limit at the time the
petition is filed could proceed to trial as a small tax case only
to end up exceeding the dollar limit by the time a decision is to
be entered. We do not think that Congress intended such a
result.
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Last modified: November 10, 2007