It is generally a good idea for married folks having substantial property to consider how best to preserve their assets. Broadly speaking, it makes sense to explore implementing those various estate planning and asset protection techniques best suited to their needs. As part of such planning, it is not unusual for couples to divide the ownership of their property between them for reasons such as taking advantage of progressive tax rates and available gift, estate and generation-skipping transfer tax exemptions as well as decreasing exposure of their assets to claims of future creditors.

A noteworthy aspect of such planning, and the focus of this article, is the benefit, if any, of planning in advance for the relief from certain federal income tax liabilities potentially available to a married couple who reside together. Section 6015 of the Internal Revenue Code provides the criteria for obtaining such relief. Or to be more specific, the relief for a purported “innocent” spouse from joint and several tax liability related to the earnings or income of his or her spouse is provided by Section 6015(b) or (f). We will describe the necessary factors that need to be satisfied, but note that at its very heart, Section 6015 is grounded in equity, meaning that the person seeking such relief must come with clean hands.