The anonymous spouse of John A. Hartmann, T. C. Memo. 2024-46, filed 4/17/24, may well, for all I know, be, like John, “a lawyer with decades of experience.” T. C. Memo. 2024-46, at p. 2.

Unlike John, she hadn’t failed to file returns for any of the four (count ’em, four) tax years, for one of which Judge Courtney D. (“CD”) Jones sustains the NITL which John petitioned.

Judge CD Jones doesn’t state whether spouse kept current with any estimated tax payments. Since spouse is not seeking Section 6015 innocent spousery, the usual litany of somber reasoning and copious citation of statute, regs, and precedent is absent here.

As usual, the story is in a footnote.

“AO H also verified that Mr. Hartmann did not file a joint return with his spouse for any year that he had not filed a return…. AO H noted that Mr. Hartmann’s spouse filed her returns for those years as ‘married filing separately.’” T. C. Memo. 2024-46, at p. 7, footnote 6. (Name omitted).

That’s the best defense to joint-and-several I know.