- 6 -
understatement of tax on a joint return attributable to erroneous
items of the other spouse if the taxpayer establishes that in
signing the return he “did not know, and had no reason to know”
of the understatement. Sec. 6015(b)(1)(C), (2).
Petitioner testified that he was aware of intervenor’s
pension account and that he did, in fact, consider it income to
them. The only issue raised by petitioner with respect to
intervenor’s pension income was whether the amount was considered
taxable. Petitioner admits that he erred in entering the
information into his Federal income tax preparation software
program and in misunderstanding from information provided to him
by the software program that the pension income was not taxable
because intervenor is disabled. However, because petitioner, by
his own admission, had actual knowledge of the pension income,
section 6015(b) does not apply. Thus, petitioner is not entitled
to relief under section 6015(b).
The second avenue for relief is section 6015(c). Section
6015(c) affords proportionate relief to the requesting spouse
through allocation to the responsible party. Generally, the
avenue of relief allows a spouse to elect to be treated as if a
separate return had been filed. Rowe v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo.
2001-325. To be eligible for relief under section 6015(c), the
requesting spouse must no longer be married to, or must be
legally separated from, the individual with whom the tax return
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011