PUBLIC LAW 104-168-^ULY 30, 1996 110 STAT. 1459 "(d) AUTHORITY TO ABATE PENALTY WHERE DEPOSIT SENT TO SECRETARY.— The Secretary may abate the penalty imposed by subsection (a) with respect to the first time a depositor is required to make a deposit if the amount required to be deposited is inadvertently sent to the Secretary instead of to the appropriate government depository.". (b) EFFECTIVE DATE. —The amendment made by subsection (a) 26 USC 6656 shall apply to deposits required to be made after the date of the note, enactment of this Act. TITLE IV-^OINT RETURNS SEC. 401. STUDIES OF JOINT RETURN-RELATED ISSUES. The Secretary of the Treasury or his delegate and the Comptroller General of the United States shall each conduct separate studies of— (1) the effects of changing the liability for tax on a joint return from being joint and several to being proportionate to the tax attributable to each spouse, (2) the effects of providing that, if a divorce decree allocates liability for tax on a joint return filed before the divorce, the Secretary' may collect such liability only in accordance with the decree, (3) whether those provisions of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 intended to provide relief to innocent spouses provide meaningful relief in all cases where such relief is appropriate, and (4) the effect of providing that community income (as defined in section 66(d) of such Code) which, in accordance with the rules contained in section 879(a) of such Code, would be treated as the income of one spouse is exempt from a levy for failure to pay any tax imposed by subtitle A by the other spouse for a taxable year ending before their marriage. The reports of such studies shall be submitted to the Committee Reports. on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Finance of the Senate withm 6 months after the date of the enactment of this Act. SEC. 402. JOINT RETURN MAY BE MADE AFTER SEPARATE RETURNS WITHOUT FULL PAYMENT OF TAX. (a) GENERAL RULE. —Paragraph (2) of section 6013(b) (relating to limitations on filing of joint return after filing separate returns) is amended by striking subparagraph (A) and redesignating the following subparagraphs accordingly. (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.— The amendment made by subsection (a) 26 USC 6013 shall apply to taxable years beginning after the date of the enact- note, ment of this Act. SEC. 403. DISCLOSURE OF COLLECTION ACTIVITIES. (a) IN GENERAL.— Subsection (e) of section 6103 (relating to disclosure to persons having material interest) is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph: "(8) DISCLOSURE OF COLLECTION ACTIVITIES WITH RESPECT TO JOINT RETURN. — If any deficiency of tax with respect to a joint return is assessed and the individuals filing such return are no longer married or no longer reside in the same household, upon request in writing by either of such individuals,
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