Did you file a tax return only to have your refund applied toward liability that your spouse owed? Or, you know your refund will be subject to your spouse’s liability, do you know what your rights are? If either of these scenarios relate to you, you are considered and injured spouse and you can do something to get your portion of the tax refund awarded to you.
Liabilities that can be withheld from your tax return include the following:
According to the IRS website in order for you to qualify as an injured spouse you first must have filed a joint return with your spouse. Second, you must have reported taxable earnings that show you had income tax withheld during the tax year or paid estimate tax payments. You can also qualify if you were able to claim a tax refund credit including the child tax credit or an earned income credit.
Additionally, you must not be legally responsible for any of the past due amount. The money owed must either be linked to your spouse from before you were married or be solely their responsibility. If you owe the liability jointly, you will not qualify for the injured spouse tax relief.
In order to claim injured spouse tax relief you will need to fill out and file IRS form 8379 for injured spouse allocation. You can file the form either electronically or by mail. If you are filing a paper return and plan to include form 8379 with your return, the IRS asks that you write “Injured Spouse” in the upper top left corner of your 1040, 1040A or 1040EZ form.
If have already filed your tax return and are filing form 8379 by itself you will need to make sure that you include on the form both yours and your spouse’s social security numbers and list them in the same order that you listed them on your original return. Additionally, both parties must sign the form.
This post was published on April 21, 2011