Jim Ramstad: “I rise in support of H.R. 6111, a bill to provide the U.S. Tax Court with jurisdiction to review innocent spouse relief…”

“I rise in support of H.R. 6111, a bill to provide the U.S. Tax Court with jurisdiction to review innocent spouse relief claims. Under current law, married couples who submit joint tax returns are individually responsible for paying the taxes owed to the Federal Government. The Internal Revenue Service can, however, relieve this responsibility, in situations where one spouse was unaware that the other spouse understated the amount of taxes due on their joint return. This type of relief, called innocent spouse relief, is granted at the discretion of the IRS. Currently, if the IRS denies a claim for innocent spouse relief, the tax court which specializes in tax law, does not have jurisdiction to review the IRS decision. This bill would provide the tax court with authority to review these claims by innocent spouses. We have the opportunity today to allow innocent spouses to take their cases to the Federal court with the most knowledge and expertise in handling tax matters. The tax court's experience with tax cases should ensure that denials of claims for innocent spouse relief are handled both fairly and expeditiously.”