Innocent Spouse: Alternatives For Improving Innocent Spouse Relief

GAO discussed its report on the innocent spouse provisions of the Internal Revenue Code, focusing on: (1) the universe of taxpayers potentially eligible for innocent spouse relief; (2) the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) practices and procedures for handling requests for such relief; (3) whether the existing innocent spouse provisions provide the same opportunity for relief for all taxpayers; (4) the potential effects of replacing the joint and several liability standard with a proportionate liability standard; (5) the potential effects on IRS of requiring it to abide by the terms of divorce decrees that allocate tax liabilities; and (6) the potential effects of limiting IRS' ability to seize community income to satisfy the tax liabilities incurred by one of the spouses before the marriage.