WebCPA reports that the IRS has extended innocent spouse relief to a greater number of taxpayers under newly proposed guidelines. The new proposed guidelines are designed to offer relief to more innocent spouses who request equitable relief from income tax liability caused by unpaid taxes of their estranged spouses. A Notice proposing a new revenue procedure, posted [...]
Tags: Innocent Spouse Relief
I just read an excellent post by Kay Bell on innocent spouse relief. Here’s how Kay frames the issue, but to see how it all ends you’ll have to read the entire post: Leonard Harbin filed a petition with the Tax Court seeking relief from joint and several liability for his and his now ex-wife’s [...]
Tags: Court Cases · Innocent Spouse Relief
Paul Caron reports that yesterday the IRS released (IR-2011-80) Notice 2011-70 which abandons the rule that requires innocent spouses to make their claims for relief within 2 years from the date IRS collection activity first began: The IRS today announced that it will extend help to more innocent spouses by eliminating the two-year time limit [...]
Tags: Innocent Spouse Relief · IRS procedure · News
From the Journal of Accountancy: The United States Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a Tax Court decision and upheld a Treasury regulation that sets a two-year statute of limitation on claims for innocent spouse relief (Jones v. Commissioner, docket no. 10-1985 (4th Cir. 6/13/11)). This marks the third time the Tax Court has been [...]
Tags: Court Cases · Innocent Spouse Relief
When Carol Ross Joynt’s husband died she was consumed by grief. Then she learned that her husband owed $3,000,000 to the IRS and was now pursuing her for it. The experience was so traumatic she wrote a book about it and titled it Innocent Spouse: A Memoir. Here’s a short synopsis: Carol Ross Joynt was a successful television [...]
Tags: Innocent Spouse Relief
Paul Caron reports that the Tax Court has flouted the 7th Circuit’s ruling in Lantz v. Commissioner, invalidating IRS regulations requiring that spouses seeking innocent spouse relief request that relief within two years of the first collection action: A divided (8-5) Tax Court yesterday (in a case in which Tax Prof Ljubomir Nacev(Northern Kentucky) represented the taxpayer) [...]
Tags: Court Cases · Innocent Spouse Relief
The Internal Revenue Code does not contain a time period in which taxpayers must claim innocent spouse relief. However, Treasury Regulations require that taxpayers claiming innocent spouse relief make their claims within 2 years of the IRS’s commencement of collection action. From Paul Caron: The Seventh Circuit today, in a unanimous opinion written by Judge Posner, reversed a divided [...]
Tags: Court Cases · Innocent Spouse Relief
