Lindsey Jones v. Comm., CA-9, 2022-1 USTC §50,111
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Unsigned Return Was Still a Valid Married Filing Joint Return (Lindsey Jones v. Comm., CA-9, 2022-1 USTC §50,111 (Feb. 3, 2022))
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals found that the Tax Court did not err by concluding that Lindsey Jones tacitly consented to the filing of a joint return. A joint tax return signed by one spouse on behalf of the other is valid so long as the non-signing spouse tacitly consented to filing the joint return. See Hennen v. Comm., [CCH Dec. 24,658], 35 T.C. 747, 748–49 (1961). The key question is whether both spouses intended at the time of filing to file a joint return.
The Court found that Jones tacitly consented to filing the 2010 joint tax return because she had provided her then-husband with her W-2s and other tax information, she failed to file a separate income tax return, and she later allowed her spouse in a subsequent marriage to sign her name to their joint tax returns.