The innocent spouse rule allows a taxpayer to avoid a tax obligation arising from errors made by a spouse on a joint return. Most commonly, the error involves unreported income or an inflated deduction. ... The taxpayer must apply for relief within two years of the IRS initiating collection.
By requesting innocent spouse relief, you can be relieved of responsibility for paying tax, interest, and penalties if your spouse (or former spouse) improperly reported items or omitted items on your tax return. ... The IRS will figure the tax you are responsible for after you file Form 8857.
An injured spouse claim is for allocation of a refund of a joint refund while an innocent spouse claim is for relief or allocation of a joint and several liability reflected on a joint return.
You were/are married and filed a joint tax return. Your former/current spouse improperly reported income on a joint return. You can prove that when you signed said joint return, you either didn't know or had no reason to know that the income was incorrectly reported.
Spouses are not liable for their spouses taxes if they do not file a joint return, e.g., the tax is for a year a separate (married or single) return was filed, or incurred prior to marriage.
Understanding the Innocent-Spouse Rule
To be eligible for this relief, the taxpayers must meet the following criteria: They must have filed a joint return with an erroneous understatement of tax responsibility relating directly to their spouse. They must have had no knowledge of the error.
As explained by the IRS, a person applying for innocent spouse relief must meet three requirements: (1) that the applicant filed a joint return that has an understatement of tax as a result of erroneous items attributable only to their current or former spouse; (2) that the applicant did not know and had no reason to ...
How long will the process take? When a Form 8857, Request for Innocent Spouse Relief, is filed with the IRS, it may take up to 6 months before a determination is made. During the processing time, the Service is requesting your tax information and contacting the non-requesting spouse.
If you are married to someone who owes back taxes, you can file a Form 8379, which allows you to retain your own refund even if you filed jointly. If the IRS accepts your claim as an injured spouse, you will have access to your own tax refund without having it go toward your spouse's debt.
You generally must file a request for innocent spouse relief within two years from the date that the IRS first attempts to collect the tax from you. If you do not have all of the documentation you need, you still need to file the form 8857 within the two-year period.
Unfortunately, yes, the IRS can seize your house or assets, even if your spouse is the one who owes money to the IRS. This only happens if the debt was incurred during a year where you filed jointly on your tax return.
The Additional Child Tax Credit is a refundable credit that you may receive if your Child Tax Credit is greater than the total amount of income taxes you owe. For instance, if you're eligible for a $2,000 Child Tax Credit and your taxes are only $1,000, you may add the remaining $1,000 credit to your refund.
A: No. If your spouse incurred tax debt from a previous income tax filing before you were married, you are not liable. ... Your spouse cannot receive money back from the IRS until they pay the agency what they owe. If your spouse owes back taxes when you tie the knot, file separately until they repay the debt.
Yes, the IRS can attach liens to joint and shared property.
Fill out IRS Form 8857 (copies on the internet at www.irs.gov). Attach a letter saying why you should get Innocent Spouse Relief. Put your name and Social Security number on the letter. Don't file IRS Form 8857 with your income tax return. Mail it in a separate envelope.
If you filed tax returns jointly when married, both spouses are liable to the IRS. That means they can collect 100% of the debt (tax, penalties, and interest) from either spouse. This is true after divorce, even if the spouse that is obligated per the divorce decree, fails to pay.
It turns out that money stress is a major predictor of divorce. Couples who argued about money more than once a week were 30 percent more likely to divorce than those who argued less than once a month. That makes choosing to marry someone who will bring a significant amount of debt into the relationship a gamble.
Both spouses are also entitled to half of any income tax refund for any year of marriage. ... The purpose of doing so is to ensure that, should the IRS determine in the future that you or your spouse owe taxes while you were married, you will have documents to prove otherwise.
If you're married to someone who owes child support—and you're not responsible for the debt—you can file an "Injured Spouse Allocation" form with the IRS. If you submit this properly, the IRS may allow you to keep your portion of the tax refund.
Since you have no income to report, filing Injured Spouse will make no difference for you at this point. The Injured Spouse divides your portion of income/withholding/dependents from your husband's. Since there's nothing to divide, you can file as usual.
You do not claim a spouse as a dependent. When you are married and living together, you can only file a tax return as either Married Filing Jointly or Married Filing Separately. You would want to file as MFJ even if one spouse has little or no income.
The IRS can collect from either one of you, or both of you, in any amount that is convenient for them. ... If the IRS does hold you responsible for the debt you can file for innocent spouse relief or equitable relief. Or you can sue to collect from your ex, if that was your agreement.
There is no precise way to do this, because everything on a married joint return is calculated together. One solution is to prepare two married filing separate returns, figure out refunds based on that, and then apportion the actual refund based on that percentage. ... Example: Married joint return has refund of $1400.
Yes – If Your Circumstances Fit. The IRS does have the authority to write off all or some of your tax debt and settle with you for less than you owe. This is called an offer in compromise, or OIC.