Acoba v. Commissioner, T.C. Summ. Op. 2010-64 (2010)
The Tax Court held that a divorce decree allocating existing tax liabilities equally between spouses is not controlling for innocent spouse relief claims.
Petitioner and Mr. Acoba divorced on June 13, 2002. As part of the judgment of divorce, petitioner and Mr. Acoba each agreed to pay “50% of Internal Revenue Service debt for back taxes, interest, and penalties”. (3).
Petitioner argues that she should be liable for only 50 percent of the liabilities for the years at issue as provided in the divorce decree. (7).
Section 6013(d)(3) provides that if a joint return is filed, the tax is computed on the taxpayers’ aggregate income and liability for the resulting tax is joint and several. See also sec. 1.6013-4(b), Income Tax Regs. But the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) may relieve a taxpayer from joint and several liability under section 6015 in certain circumstances. (5).
To obtain relief from joint and several liability, a spouse must qualify under section 6015(b), or, if eligible, may allocate liability under section 6015(c). In addition, if relief is not available under section 6015(b) or (c), a spouse may seek equitable relief under section 6015(f). (5).
This case does not involve a deficiency or an understatement of tax and, therefore, relief under section 6015(b) and (c) is not available to petitioner. (5).
Rev. Proc. 2003-61, sec. 4.01, 2003-2 C.B. at 297, sets forth seven threshold conditions that must be satisfied before the Commissioner will consider a request for equitable relief under section 6015(f). (7).
[A]fter weighing all the factors, the Court concludes that petitioner’s intimate involvement in the financial matters of the marriage and her knowledge of the protracted financial decline of the marriage should have put her on notice that filing a joint Federal income tax return was, for her, a poor choice. (13-14).
Unfortunately for Ms. Acoba, as the tax court points out, her divorce agreement does not defeat her "joint and several" liability for unpaid taxes. This means the IRS can pursue either of them for 100% of the tax liability, regardless of their private agreement to share the burden equally. If Ms. Acoba pays the entire amount, either voluntarily or involuntarily via IRS levy, the divorce decree will serve as her means for getting reimbursed by her husband. Of course, if he has no money, she is going to have a hard time collecting. She effectively becomes an unsecured creditor of her ex-husband, not a good place to be.
This is correct! If you file a joint return you are both responsible!
Posted by: IRS TAX | November 10, 2011 at 11:48 AM