Lavish Lifestyle Undermines Tax Relief Plea, Tax Court Rules

A woman’s claim that she should be absolved of more than $60,000 in tax debt after her husband died is at odds with the trappings of luxury she continued to enjoy, the US Tax Court said Tuesday.

The record shows that many of the lavish expenses Sydney Ann Chaney Thomas incurred, “including the Land Rover, vacations, education expenses, and the green Dior bag, were incurred at times when Ms. Thomas knew about the tax problems,” Judge Emin Toro wrote for the court.

Thomas and her husband jointly filed income tax returns for tax years 2012-2014 but didn’t pay the tax ...