Equity and Relief from Joint Return Liabilities

Under subsection (f), the Commissioner is authorized to relieve a taxpayer from liability for tax on a joint return if he or she does not meet the requirements for relief under subsections (b) or (c) and 'taking into account all the facts and circumstances, it is inequitable to hold [the taxpayer] liable ' ' The initial determination is committed to the discretion of the Commissioner. In Rev. Proc. 2003-61, 2003-2 C.B. 296, superseding Rev. Proc. 2000-15, 200-1 C.B. 447, the IRS has set out the 'factors' it applies in deciding whether to authorize relief under ' 6015(f). This Revenue Procedure provides the framework for analyzing requests for relief. Section 4.01 identifies seven factors that must be established before the taxpayer is eligible for relief. The important one for this discussion is the requirement that the 'relief is attributable to an item of the [taxpayer's spouse].' This includes a requirement that, in cases involving the failure to pay an assessed tax, the failure to pay must be from assets of the taxpayer's spouse (called the 'nonrequesting spouse'), unless there is misappropriation by the spouse or other, similar misconduct.