What would you do if, just weeks after your spouse's sudden death, you found out he was keeping secrets? Carol Ross Joynt was a successful TV producer and award-winning journalist in Washington, D.C. Her husband, Howard, owned a legendary restaurant in Georgetown. They had a young son, a happy marriage – a seeming fairy-tale life. But Howard’s sudden death changed everything. Carol was shocked to discover that her husband had secrets – financial secrets – including a $3 million debt to the IRS that still had to be settled. Carol was responsible for repaying the debt, unless she could prove she knew nothing about Howard’s fraudulent dealings and convince the government she was an innocent spouse. With no time to grieve, Carol was forced to immediately learn to manage her family’s legal and financial responsibilities, run Howard’s restaurant, hold her own career together, and raise their son as a solo parent. As she picked up the pieces and coped with her sadness and anger, she learned to become self-sufficient. Poignant, eye-opening, and at its core uplifting, Innocent Spouse is ultimately an inspiring story of strength and newfound independence in the face of loss and betrayal.

By law, married persons who file joint tax returns are each fully responsible for the accuracy of the tax return and for the full tax liability. This is true even though only one taxpayer may have earned the wages or income shown on the tax return. Under the Internal Revenue Services (IRS) Innocent Spouse Program, IRS can relieve taxpayers of tax debts on the basis of equity considerations, such as not knowing that their spouse failed to pay taxes due. Since passage of the IRS Restructuring and Reform Act (Restructuring Act) of 1998, IRS has received thousands of requests from taxpayers for innocent spouse relief. IRSs inability to provide timely responses to such requests has generated concerns among taxpayers, Congress, and other stakeholders. It took IRS about a year, on average, to completely process an innocent spouse case in fiscal year 2001.

Volume 31 of Advances in Taxation includes studies from expert contributors, exploring topics such as: firms’ domestic and foreign effective tax rates; tax avoidance; and tax compliance. A study reviews prior literature on tax increment financing, an economic development tool frequently used by U.S. local governments.

How do you confront your husband when you don't want to know the truth? Twenty years ago, Dennis Danson was arrested and imprisoned for murder. Now he's the subject of a true-crime documentary that claims that he has been wrongly convicted. After Samantha becomes obsessed with his case, she begins writing him letters. Won over by his apparent charm, she decides to leave her old life behind to marry him and campaign for his release. When Dennis is freed, Samantha should be overjoyed. After all, he's innocent. Isn't he?