Innocent Spouse – Safe Harbor Conditions

If the threshold conditions are met, the Commissioner ordinarily will grant equitable relief under section 6015(f) with respect to an underpayment of income tax reported on a joint Federal income tax return, provided ALL the following three safe harbor conditions are satisfied: (i) On the date of the request for relief, the requesting spouse is no longer married to, or is legally separated from, the nonrequesting spouse; (ii) on the date the requesting spouse signed the joint income tax return, the requesting spouse did not know, and had no reason to know, that the nonrequesting spouse would not pay the tax liability; and (iii) the requesting spouse will suffer economic hardship if the Commissioner does not grant relief.