White Paper

Overview of Innocent Spouse Cases

 
“The Internal Revenue (“Code”) provides rules for when a husband and a wife may file a joint Federal income tax return. Where a couple jointly files a Federal income tax return, the husband and wife are generally jointly and severally liable for the tax shown as due on the return or any deficiency determined to be due with respect to that return. Thus, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) may pursue either or both spouses for any tax owed with respect to a joint return. Not surprisingly, the general rule of joint and several liability sometimes yields undesirable or inequitable results to one spouse. To alleviate the harshness of the general joint and several liability rule, Congress enacted a set of rules to allow a requesting spouse to obtain relief from joint and several liability. These rules are for the most part set forth in I.R.C. § 6015 and Rev. Proc. 2013-34, 2013-43 I.R.B. 397.”

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Frank Agostino is the president of Agostino & Associates, P.C., a law firm in Hackensack, New Jersey specializing in civil and white collar criminal litigation, tax controversies and tax planning. Prior to entering private practice, he was an attorney with the Internal Revenue Service’s District Counsel in Springfield, Illinois and Newark, New Jersey; he also served as a Special Assistant United States Attorney, where he prosecuted primarily criminal tax cases.

Dennis Brager if the founder of the Brager Tax Law Group – a worldwide practice limited to representing clients having criminal and civil disputes with the IRS, the California Franchise Tax Board, the State Board of Equalization and the Employment Development Department. He is a former Senior Trial Attorney for the Internal Revenue Service’s Office of Chief Counsel. Mr. Brager is a California State Bar Certified Tax Specialist.

Faculty

Frank Agostino

Frank Agostino

Agostino & Associates