Fourth Circuit Holds that § 6015(f)(1) Innocent Spouse Equitable Relief Can Apply to Erroneous Refund Interest (5/22/26)

I write what I call a notice blog today on a case involving the innocent spouse equitable relief provision, § 6015(f)(1), as applicable to erroneous refund interest. The case reverses and remands a Tax Court "T.C." decision on an issue that is, I think, not commonly encountered. So most practitioners should just know the bottom-line holding and then can pursue it further if they ever encounter it. I do think students should be concerned with the case.

In LaRosa v. Commissioner, 176 F. 4th 323 (4th Cir. 2026), 4^th Cir. here and GS here, the Court provides this good summary at the beginning:

A provision of the tax code gives the Internal Revenue Service discretion to “relieve” a taxpayer of “liability” for “any unpaid tax or any deficiency.” 26 U.S.C. § 6015(f)(1). Sometimes, the IRS refunds money to a taxpayer but later concludes it erred in doing so. Our sole question in this appeal: When the IRS mistakenly refunds interest payments a taxpayer made on previously underpaid taxes, does the taxpayer have a “liability” for “unpaid tax” that is eligible for discretionary relief under Section 6015(f)(1)? Because we conclude the answer is yes, we vacate the tax court’s judgment and remand for further proceedings.

I have summarized the holding of the case in a footnote in my working draft for the 2026 Federal Tax Procedure (Practitioner Edition) as follows:

In LaRosa v. Commissioner, ___ F.4th ___ (4th Cir. 2026), the Court held in an esoteric application of § 6015(f) that the IRS could grant equitable relief for interest (as opposed to tax) erroneously refunded to the taxpayer. I won’t discuss LaRosa further because I don’t see it as a situation that will be encountered often.

FTP2019 Update - Innocent Spouse Relief Judicial Review (8/26/19)

I offer the Second Federal Tax Procedure Editions Update.  The Second Update is here.  A separate pdf with a table of contents showing cumulative updates is here.  (The cumulative update as of the date of the blog is linked here.  For the most recent version of the cumulative update (including updates after the date of this blog), see the link on the page to the right, titled "2019 Federal Tax Procedure Book & Updates," here.)

For a blog search that picks up all Updates through the tag FTP 2019 Updates, click here.  This search will first be sorted by relevance, but a reverse chronological presentation can be linked at the top.  The results will show all Update blogs.  (As of today's posting, there will be only one, but as others are added, the search will pick them all up.)

This Update replaces the following section with discussion of the litigation forums for innocent spouse relief.

Ch. 14. Collection Procedures.
XVI. Innocent Spouse Relief.
B. Joint Liability Relief.
7. Judicial Review.

Practitioner Ed., pp 796-797

Student Ed., p. 543

Tax Procedure Book Errata - Injured Spouse Relief for Joint Return Refunds Credited to Liability of Only One of the Spouses (9/2/16)

Keith Fogg posted a great discussion today on the Procedurally Taxing Blog: Special Statute of Limitations for Injured Spouse Relief (9/2/16), here.  I have added the paragraph below to my Federal Tax Procedure Book editions, appearing now as errata but will appear in the 2017 edition of the book editions.

Student Edition p. 151 and Practitioner edition at the end of the carryover section and immediately before 2. Constructive Overpayments, add the following paragraph (remember that the footnotes do not apply to the student edition):

Finally, as noted, the IRS may credit refunds otherwise due for tax debts and for nontax debts other federal, state agencies and even child-support payments certified by the state.  This creates a problem only one spouse owes the debt to which a refund on a joint return is credited.  In that case, the spouse who is not liable may have a separate interest in the refund on the joint return.  That spouse is called the injured spouse because that spouse’s asset is used to pay a debt of the liable spouse. n769.1  The IRS has procedures, called injured spouse relief, that permits the injured spouse to obtain the refund. n769.2  This relief to obtain the injured spouse’s share of overpayments credit to the liable spouse’s debt is sometimes confused with innocent spouse relief (discussed below beginning at p. 472 of the Student edition and p.  682 of Practitioner edition).  The IRM succinctly states the different as follows: “Innocent spouse status relieves a spouse of the responsibility for paying taxes that may then be collected from the other spouse. Injured spouse status involves obtaining a refund of a spouse's interest in an overpayment that has been offset under IRC 6402.”  n769.3  The injured spouse relief is based on general state law rights rather than being required by a particular Code section.

   n769.1 See generally IRM 25.18.5  Injured Spouse.  IRM 25.18.5.1  (03-04-2011), Background - IRC 6402 Offsets, subpar. 3 which is captioned “How Offset Issues Arise,” noting  in relevant part:
Offset issues arise where spouses file joint returns and only one spouse owes a IRC 6402 debt. In this circumstance, an allocation must be made to determine the liable spouse's interest in the overpayment, the amount that can be offset for the liable spouse's debt, and the amount to be refunded to the nonliable spouse. Rev. Rul. 80-7, 1980-1 C.B. 296, amplified by Rev. Rul. 87-52, 1987-1 C.B. 347. Due to different property rights in income tax and withholding and other credits, there is a difference in the allocation process for community property states as opposed to the other states. Rev. Rul. 85-70, 1985-1 C.B. 361.
In subsequent sections, the IRM provides the methods for allocating the amount of the refund to the injured spouse.  Having spent most of my career practicing in Houston, Texas, I was particularly interested to see a special IRM provision devoted allocations in Texas.  IRM 25.18.5.10  (03-04-2011), Injured Spouse Claims Involving Federal Tax Offsets in Texas.  Texas is just different. 

   n769.2 The relief is requested by Form 8379, titled Injured Spouse Allocation, which can be filed (i) with the return if the taxpayers know of the § 6502 creditable debt of the liable spouse and (ii) after notice of the credit in order to obtain the benefit for the injured spouse.  For more on the relief, see Keith Fogg, Special Statute of Limitations for Injured Spouse Relief (Procedurally Taxing Blog 9/2/16), discussing the TIGTA report titled Injured Spouse Cases Were Not Always Timely Resolved, Resulting in the Unnecessary Payment of Interest (Ref. No. 2016-40-042 5/19/16). One key point that Keith Fogg makes is that the statute of limitations for claiming injured spouse relief for credits to the liable spouse’s federal tax debts is three years whereas the statute of limitations for such relief for nontax debts is six years.  Keith also notes that one solution where a potential injured spouse knows of the creditable debt in advance is for the potential injured spouse to not file a joint return.  But, Keith notes, that might not be a satisfactory solution where the filing of a joint return will reduce the aggregate net tax liability.  

   n769.3 IRM 25.18.5.1  (03-04-2011), Background - IRC 6402 Offsets, subpar. 3.  The IRM also notes that some spouses entitled or potentially entitled to injured spouse relief filed mistakenly for innocent spouse relief.  Where that occurs, the IRS is instructed to notify the spouse of the difference via a specific form letter and provide a copy of Form 8379, titled Injured Spouse Allocation.

IRS New Revenue Procedure for Innocent Spouse Equitable Relief (9/21/13)

The IRS has released Rev. Proc. 2013-34, 2013-42 IRB 1, here, which " provides guidance for a taxpayer seeking equitable relief from income tax liability under section 66(c) or section 6015(f) of the Internal Revenue Code (a “requesting spouse”)."  Section 66 dealing with community income is here; Section 6015 dealing with joint return joint and several liability is here.  The statutes and the entire Rev. Proc. are required reading for those studying and practicing in this area.  I provide here only the portions of the Rev. Proc. dealing with background and significant changes:

SECTION 2. BACKGROUND 

* * * * 

.03 Section 6015 provides relief only from joint and several liability arising from a joint return. If an individual signs a joint return under duress, the election to file jointly is not valid and there is no valid return with respect to the requesting spouse. The individual is not jointly and severally liable for any income tax liabilities arising from that return. In that case, section 6015 does not apply and is not necessary for obtaining relief. If an individual files a claim for relief under section 6015, but also maintains that there is no valid joint return due to duress, the Service will first make a determination as to the validity of the joint return and may accordingly deny the request for section 6015 relief based on the fact that no joint return was filed (and thus, relief is not necessary). If it is ultimately determined that a valid joint return was filed, the Service will then consider whether the individual would be entitled to relief from joint and several liability on the merits. 

.04 Under section 6015(b) and (c), relief is available only from an understatement or a deficiency. Section 6015(b) and (c) do not authorize relief from an underpayment of income tax reported on a joint return. Section 66(c) and section 6015(f) permit equitable relief from an underpayment of income tax or from a deficiency. The legislative history of section 6015 provides that Congress intended for the Secretary to exercise discretion in granting equitable relief from an underpayment of income tax if a requesting spouse "does not know, and had no reason to know, that funds intended for the payment of tax were instead taken by the other spouse for such other spouse's benefit." H.R. Conf. Rep. No. 105-599, at 254 (1998). Congress also intended for the Secretary to exercise the equitable relief authority under section 6015(f) in other situations if, "taking into account all the facts and circumstances, it is inequitable to hold an individual liable for all or part of any unpaid tax or deficiency arising from a joint return." Id.

SECTION 3. SIGNIFICANT CHANGES 

On January 5, 2012, the Department of Treasury and the Service released Notice 2012-8, 2012-4 I.R.B. 309, which set forth a proposed revenue procedure to update and revise Rev. Proc. 2003-61, 2003-2 C.B. 296. Notice 2012-8 also modified and clarified the criteria for equitable relief, and it eliminated the two-year rule for filing a claim for relief as set forth in Notice 2011-70, 2011-2 C.B.135. Notice 2012-8 invited public comment regarding the proposed revenue procedure. A total of 54 comments were received, 45 of which were general comments either in support of the revisions, asking for assistance in specific cases, or totally unrelated to innocent spouse relief. The nine substantive comments ranged from discussing one or two discrete issues to commenting on all aspects of the proposed revenue procedure and innocent spouse relief in general. Treasury and the Service considered all comments received, and the proposed revenue procedure has been modified to take into account many of the concerns raised. 

This revenue procedure supersedes Rev. Proc. 2003-61. The structure and format of this revenue procedure generally follows that of Rev. Proc. 2003-61 with the following significant changes: 

Summary of the Innocent Spouse Provisions (1/19/13)

In Wilson v. Commissioner,  705 F.3d 980 (9th Cir. 2013), here, the Ninth Circuit held that the Tax Court review of the IRS's denial of innocent spouse relief under Section 6015(f), here, is de novo, so that new matters raised for the first time before the Tax Court may be considered.  The Court rejected the Government's argument that, as a review of the IRS's exercise of discretion, the review should not be de novo but for abuse of IRS's discretion on the basis of the administrative record provided to the IRS to use in the exercise of its discretion.   There is a dissent in Wilson that, properly construed, the review should be based on the administrative recorrd.

The Tax Court holds that review is de novo, and has now been sustained in that holding Wilson and the other other circuit to address the issue.  Commissioner v. Neal, 557 F.3d 1262 (11th Cir. 2009).  Wilson offers a good analysis of the statutory interpretation analysis the Court used to reach that interpretation.  I commend the decision to readers who are interested in statutory interpretation.

I blog this case principally because of its summary of the history and current status of the innocent spouse provisions (including administrative processing) currently appearing in Section 6015, here.  Here is that summary (footnotes omitted)

Thousands of citizens each year discover to their surprise that they are liable for their former spouse's tax debt. Most of them are recently divorced, separated, or widowed women. Many are victims of domestic abuse, whose ability to review or correct a joint return before it is filed is impaired. A substantial number are low-income, single parents. 

Congress has not turned a blind eye to this situation, and the legislative history of its response is important to our understanding of the Tax Court's role. 

Before 1918, each spouse was required to file a separate return. In 1918, Congress first permitted married couples to file a joint return, and in 1921 clarified that the tax on a joint return was to be computed on aggregate income. Shortly thereafter, the Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") took the position that each spouse was individually responsible for the entire tax debt. However, we rejected that joint and several liability interpretation in 1935 and held that the IRS should apportion tax liability on the basis of each spouse's respective income. Cole v. Comm'r, 81 F.2d 485, 489 (9th Cir. 1935). Congress legislatively overruled Cole in 1938, adopting the IRS theory of joint and several marital tax liability, and in 1948 created a separate tax schedule for joint returns.