Get July 2013

Innocent Spouse Relief provides you relief from additional tax you owe if your spouse or former spouse failed to report income, reported income improperly or claimed improper deductions or credits.

You must have filed a joint return which has an understatement of tax; The understatement of tax must be due to erroneous items of your spouse;

If you were married when your spouse incurred the back taxes, then yes. When you file jointly, then you assume joint and several liability. That means you're on the hook for any taxes your husband owes. ... Even if you weren't married when your spouse in incurred the debt, the IRS may intercept your refund now.

To qualify for an injured spouse claim, you must meet all three following conditions: You are not required to pay the past-due amount. This means that the debt is one which your spouse incurred before you got married or that the debt is one for which only your spouse is liable.

In some of these states, the law allows the IRS to collect past due taxes from either spouse, regardless of who owes them or who filed and signed the return. ... The IRS can take your refund to satisfy your husband's debt and it can even garnish your own personal wages to pay it.

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.

Innocent Spouse Relief. You must meet all of the following conditions to qualify for innocent spouse relief: You filed a joint return that has an understatement of tax that's solely attributable to your spouse's erroneous item. An erroneous item includes income received by your spouse but omitted from the joint return.

The innocent spouse rule is a provision of U.S. tax law, revised most recently in 1998, which allows a spouse to seek relief from penalties resulting from underpayment of tax by a spouse. The rule was created partly due to spouses not telling their partners the entire truth about their financial situation.

In most cases, innocent spouse relief is limited to taxpayers who are no longer married. In contrast, injured spouse relief applies to taxpayers who are married. ... An allocation is made as if you and your spouse each filed a separate tax return instead of a joint tax return.

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.

If the IRS liability is a JOINT liability then YES, the IRS may levy both your and your spouse's wages, assets, and/or accounts. When it comes to wages, IRS guidelines suggest that only the spouse with the higher income should be levied (a wage levy is the IRS term for a wage garnishment).

In some of these states, the law allows the IRS to collect past due taxes from either spouse, regardless of who owes them or who filed and signed the return. ... The IRS can take your refund to satisfy your husband's debt and it can even garnish your own personal wages to pay it.

The IRS can garnish your husband's wages, which can reduce your total household income. If you file jointly in the future, the IRS may withhold your refund to pay the taxes your spouse owes. If you did file jointly, though, both of your wages can be garnished.

Please see the IRS Innocent Spouse Q & A. An excerpt from this is below; Balance Due Generally, you must file your request within the time period the IRS has to collect the tax. Generally, the IRS has 10 years from the date the tax liability was assessed to collect the tax.

In most cases, innocent spouse relief is limited to taxpayers who are no longer married. In contrast, injured spouse relief applies to taxpayers who are married. ... An allocation is made as if you and your spouse each filed a separate tax return instead of a joint tax return.