Taxpayer Bill of Rights 3: 1998 Tax Law, Part 1 New Rules for Innocent and Ex-Spouses (CRS Report for Congress)
| Release Date |
March 1, 1999 |
| Report Number |
RS20090 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Thomas B. Ripy, American Law Division |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
Summary:
This is the first in a series of reports designed to analyze changes to tax law made in the
Taxpayer
Bill of Rights 3, enacted as Title III of the IRS Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998 ( P.L. 105-206 ). This report describes and analyzes the liability of spouses for taxes due on joint returns, the
recent changes in that law, and its historical development. It will be updated as necessary.
Shortly after the enactment of the modern income tax law, it was amended to permit joint
returns for spouses. IRS soon took the position that, when joint returns were filed, spouses were to
be treated as one for tax purposes, including liability. Later, Congress specifically provided for joint
and several liability for joint returns.
Incidents of inequitable results prompted an attempt to moderate the impact of joint spousal
liability through enactment of the so-called innocent spouse provisions. Under the law as it existed
prior to the 1998 amendments, however, it was possible to qualify as an innocent spouse and avoid
the operation of the joint and several liability rules only if a taxpayer satisfied very stringent
conditions. This stringency led to some harsh results and considerable criticism.
Congress responded to this criticism, by including in the IRS Restructuring and Reform Act of
1998 provisions designed to ease the requirements that must be met to qualify for the innocent
spouse exception, to eliminate the monetary thresholds for claiming relief, to modify the requirement
that an understatement of tax liability be the result of a grossly erroneous item of the
other spouse,
and to permit a separate liability election by taxpayers who are divorced, legally separated, or who
have lived separate and apart for 12 months.
