Requesting Innocent Spouse Relief

For those not familiar with the issue, the 1998 Restructuring and Reform Act significantly changed the innocent spouse provisions and created three forms of relief available under subsections (b), (c) and (f) of IRC 6015. The legislation capped the time period for taxpayers to claim relief under (b) and (c) but was silent regarding (f) relief. The IRS promulgated regulations providing a two year period for seeking relief under (f) to match the time period under the other subsections. Low income taxpayer advocates Paul Kohlhoff and Bob Nadler attacked the regulation in the case of Lantz v. Commissioner, 132 T.C. 131 (2009), rev’d, 607 F.3d 479 (7^th Cir. 2010). Although they convinced the Tax Court that this provision of the regulation was contrary to the statute, the Seventh Circuit reversed and upheld the regulations. Two other circuits upheld the regulations and cases were pending in other circuits when a letter from numerous members of Congress convinced the IRS to reverse its position and pull the regulation. [As a side note, the IRS issued Rev. Proc. 2013-34 following its change in course but has yet to publish a new regulation despite seeking comments several years ago.]

Since (f) relief is available to individuals who cannot obtain (b) or (c) relief, one of the IRS arguments in support of the two year limit on (f) relief was that it was necessary in order to avoid an end-run around the time limitation and open the door to a high volume of innocent spouse requests. The statistics published in the NTA’s blog suggest that the IRS fears of a high volume of requests due to the expanded time frame have not materialized. The relatively flat number of requests for relief before and after the change in the regulation suggest no need exists for Congress to amend (f) in order to protect the integrity of the innocent spouse statute.

The lack of any material change suggests that most individuals seeking relief do so relatively shortly after learning of their liability for a tax debt they believe they should not owe. My own experience with individuals seeking this relief supports this conclusion. Most of the time these individuals have ended the marriage and they seek to correct the problem as soon as possible. This is not something about which they procrastinate. The receipt of the IRS notice and demand letter individually and the prospect of facing the IRS collection system usually drive them to seek relief as soon as possible.

The post by the NTA also contains statistics concerning the percentages related to granting of innocent spouse relief. These statistics show a recent decline in the number of cases in which the IRS has granted relief. The statistics match the anecdotal concerns of advocates requesting innocent spouse relief. It is not clear if the quality of the requests has gone down, the review has become tougher or some other factor has influenced the rate at which the IRS grants these requests. As with most matters, it does make a difference if the individual is represented. I would be curious if statistics exist showing whether the number of requests from individuals representing themselves have increased or if the decline in acceptance of these requests reflects an across the board decline. My clinic usually gets involved in these cases when the individuals learn of the clinic after filing a Tax Court petition. Finding a way to have qualified individuals seeking this relief to come to clinics at an earlier stage in the process might improve the success rate of those seeking innocent spouse relief.