So you filed your tax return expecting a nice refund and then nothing comes back. You go to the IRS “Where’s my Refund?” website and find a note that says your refund was held because of a prior tax debt—but you don’t have one. Turns out your beloved spouse owed back taxes from before you were married. Is there anything you can do?
Yes, there is. You may be able to file for Injured Spouse Relief.
How do you know if you qualify as an injured spouse? First, you must have made and reported tax payments. That means you either had income tax withheld from wages or you made estimated tax payments, or you claimed a refundable tax credit like the Earned Income Tax credit. Second, you must not be legally obligated to pay the past-due amount. For example, you weren’t married to your spouse when he or she incurred the debt.
Are there any kinds of debt besides federal income tax that can cause my refund to be taken? Your refund can be taken for state income tax, child or spousal support, or federal student loans.
Note: if you live in a community property state, there are special rules. If you’re in one of those states, you’ll need to see IRS Pub 55.
If you filed a joint return and you are not responsible for your spouse’s debt, you may request your portion of the refund by filing the Injured Spouse Allocation form, Form 8379.
If you haven’t filed yet, you can submit form 8379 along with your tax return. If you’ve already filed and received a federal offset notification, you can submit a form 8379 by itself. You can e-file the 8379 when it’s submitted with a return. If you’re sending in a paper tax return (okay, you know you should be e-filing whenever possible) then you need to write “INJURED SPOUSE” at the top left corner of your 1040.
If you’re filing the 8379 by itself; make sure that you list both spouses’ social security numbers in the same order as they appeared on your income tax return. I know this sounds kind of silly but it’s really important to put the social security numbers in the right order. You might be thinking that the spouse that’s injured should have his/her name on the top, but put your names in the same order as on the tax return.
How Come the Injured Spouse Allocation Form doesn’t tell you how much you’ll get back? Good question, but it doesn’t. The IRS will determine how much of your refund you will receive. Part of the issue is that allocation for couples from the community property states will be different from couples who aren’t in community property states.
How long will it take me to get my refund after I file an injured spouse claim? It’s going to be slower than a regular refund. If you e-file a form 8379 along with your federal return, it will take about 11 weeks to process. If you mail your return in your refund will take around 14 weeks. If your tax return was already file and you’re sending in an Injured Spouse Allocation by itself, expect the IRS to take about 8 weeks to process it.
Am I better off just filing separately? Sometimes, yes. But if you qualify for any of the tax credits that aren’t allowed to couples who file separately then the Injured Spouse Allocation is your best choice despite the delay to your refund.
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Here are some links that might help:
EIC questions of any kind: http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/Earned-Income-Tax-Credit-(EITC)-%E2%80%93–Use-the-EITC-Assistant-to-Find-Out-if-You-Should-Claim-it.
How to find free tax preparers: http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/Free-Tax-Return-Preparation-for-You-by-Volunteers
How to find your local IRS office: http://www.irs.gov/uac/Contact-Your-Local-IRS-Office-1
Hi Mia–
you asked where to file an injured spouse claim. Here’s a good link for that: http://www.irs.gov/uac/Where-To-File-Addresses-for-Tax-Professionals
Because you live in Georgia, you would file your injured spouse claim at Department of the Treasury
Internal Revenue Service
Kansas City, MO 64999-0002
This is for David T–
When you mail in your Injured spouse form, it’s supposed to go to the IRS office that you would have mailed the return to if you hadn’t efiled it. I’m sort of thinking that you might live in Colorado so your Injured spouse form should probably have gone to Fresno California.
If you haven’t already done so, I would call the IRS to follow up on your return. Make sure you explain upfront that you are calling about an injured spouse claim so that they send you to the right department–otherwise you’ll get a run around.
Hi Laura,
hopefully your case has already been solved. Sorry I’m so late responding, I fall way behind during tax season. Generally, they mean 45 days from when the IRS says they opened the case. That said, things have been backed up considerably so it could take longer.
Hi Andrew,
I’m sorry about the death of your wife. Taxes are difficult enough without having to add grief to it.
So had you gotten the 2013 cancellation of debt forms before you actually filed, it would have made sense to file your return as married filing separately. But now that you’ve already filed jointly, you can’t go back and file separately–which would have been the best option.
Because you filed jointly, that 1099C income will have to go on your tax return. You will probably have to pay tax on it. (The injured spouse status won’t get you out of that.) But you may be able to reduce some of the tax debt. Read this blog post: http://robergtaxsolutions.com/2012/09/how-to-report-debt-forgiveness-1099c-on-your-tax-return/
You may be able to use for 982 and claim insolvency–at least for part of that debt.
So it looks to me like you’ll need to file an amended return, maybe file form 982 (hope so anyway), and there may be some additional tax due.
It’s probably worth calling the injured spouse division and following up on your case. Explain that you’re going to need to amend the return and see how they want you to proceed.
My wife passed away in January 2013. For certain reasons, I was not able to file our 2012 return until October, where she was denoted as deceased. The refund came back in my name only. For 2013, I filed taxes Married/Joint, with deceased taxpayer, and an Injured Spouse form (I have been doing this for a number of years due to some old student debt from before we were married). After I filed 2013, a letter came to my wife’s name with the Forgiveness of Debt forms for 2013, dated and mailed after she had passed, yet addressed as if she were still living; she was, in fact, intestate. I did not even realize this was something that would have happened, and was a bit surprised. I have been waiting for the processing for two months now, and am a little curious as to your take on how complicated this actually is…4E
My wife is a stay at home mom we filed jointly, mine is the only income and we are on section 8 etc. my school loan defaulted and lost the full federal refund. Was told to try filing an injured spouse form for my wife to get back some for her and our 3 kids. Since there is earned income credit and breaks for the children feel as if she should be able to get some back since it’s not her loan, and she doesn’t have any income. Do we split all halfway on allocation sheet or how do we fill it out?
Where do you actually send the injured spouse claim? I live in GA and have been searching to find an address, but keep coming up short.
My wife submitted a Form 8379 about a week ago. I understand the processing time but am wondering if we can follow up with them to insure they received it. We were advised to send it to the Federal Treasurer’s office to the local office in Denver. We called them and they advised that they don’t handle that and we needed to contact the Department of Revenue. They are giving us back to the IRS. Who can we simply follow up with to insure that they received the forms? And possibly a status?
Hi there, my husband and i e-filed a joint return. We knew i had back child support coming out of it but i only owed 2 grand and our refund was 10. The day before the wmr tool said we were expecting the deposit i called th e setoff program to make sure they were offsetting that 3 grand because wmr wasnt showing the refund. Turns out my school loans had gone into default and they offset for the remainder of the money so my husband filed the injured spouse form on feb 12th. I called the irs today and they said a case was opened on march 8th and that the case should be coming to a close later this week. My question is perhaps i was confused or the agent was confused. Is it 45 days from me taking my form to my local irs office or 45 days from the case being opened
Hi Sandra,
Your problem is out of my league. I’m thinking you should talk to an attorney. If the IRS sold those homes and took the money before they granted you “innocent spouse” I’m not sure there’s much chance of getting that money back. (Once they’ve got the money, it’s much harder to get it from them.)
But do consult with a tax attorney. Sorry I couldn’t be of help.
Hi Rodney,
if you filed the injured spouse claim with the return, I don’t understand why they took the refund. If you efiled your return, then filed the injured spouse, then that’s different. It will take some time to process.
I figure it’s worth a phone call to the IRS to follow up on what’s going on.
Hi Tom, Since New York is not a community property state, then you’ll probably get most, if not all, of your refund back. The quick and dirty way to check is to prepare your return as married filing separately. Assuming the children involved are all yours, you would put the kids with you for tax credits. That’s pretty much how it works.
My now ex-husband was convicted of Tax Evasion, the IRS found me to be an “innocent spouse’, they sold 2 homes and property that we owned jointly, how do I get them to pay me my half of the money?
my wife and I found out she owed a student loan debt and it defaulted and they took our refund as offset….she was only one responsible for debt.. i filed an injured spouse claim at the same time i filed a paper return… i got letter in mail that they took refund to pay her debt and the letter said they would be sending refund to pay debt on a certain day… what happened to injured spouse claim? will they still send my refund or will they wait until injured spouse claim is finished? thanks for any help
Hi Marie,
My gut reaction is that you want to file the injured spouse form.
But I’m confused about the state tax return refund–is that a completely separate issue from the student loan offset?
If the 1040X is only about the state–definitely file the injured spouse form separately. If the 1040X changes your federal tax—then I’m wishy-washy here. I’d want more information first.
My best guess is to file the injured spouse first, get your money, then amend. But if the amendment is going to make you owe more, maybe skip the injured spouse and go straight to the amendment.
If the amendment is only for the state–don’t file a 1040X, just the state amendment.
Hi and thank you for providing this service! My wife and I are in NY. She doesn’t work, she had a old student loan from before our marriage that she defaulted on. I recently filed a Joint return and they took $8k out of my refund. I am working on getting form 8379 completed, but was wondering if I will get back all of that money are just half? Thank you so much!
Hi Peggy Sue,
Your federal injured spouse should protect you. In Missouri, they don’t call it injured spouse, they call it “non-obligated spouse”. If you filed as a “non-obligated spouse” spouse in Missouri–they will still confiscate your refund if the debt is to the IRS.
I know, that sounds totally screwy, but that’s what they do. If you read the Missouri instructions, it’s on page 6: http://dor.mo.gov/forms/MO-1040_Instructions_2013.pdf
Hi Jan…my question is when you find out that you have an offset due to a student loan, does it matter whether you file an injured spouse 8379 form or whether you choose to file an amended return form 1040X. The reason to file the amended return is for state tax return refund
I filed injured spouse because my new husband had past debt with the IRS. I just received a letter from my state (Missouri) stating my state refund was sent to the IRS for ‘debt offset’ for my husband. I thought injured spouse protected me from that? Any answers for me? Highly frustrated. Of course my federal refund is still being processed which I expected but the State Revenue taxation division sent MY money off to the IRS!
Hi Dan,
I’m hearing that you should send your W2s in with the 8379. (Yes, technically they have your W2 information already, but sending copies of the W2s is supposed to speed things up.)
I’m told 8 weeks if you mail the 8379 after filing. (But the IRS has been slow lately so don’t count on that 8 week time frame.
I have no experience with injured spouse claims in New York. Do any readers have that information? If you have experience with New York, please post it. Thanks.
Hello. Yesterday we were made aware our refund, both Federal and New York State, were being claimed due to my wife’s student loans from 2006.
I filled out and mailed form 8379, sent to Kansas City, and filled out form IT-280 for New York, and mailed it to the address they stated in their notification letter.
Question is, we had filled electronically for both, and based on what I read all I needed to do was fill out form 8379, and send it in alone. Is this correct? Also, any idea of when I will actually get the refund from the IRS or NY?
Hi Lynn,
Why didn’t your H&R Block person do it for you? They have all the information. Here are the instructions for the Injured spouse form: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i8379.pdf
The mailing address for Wisconsin tax returns is:
Department of the Treasury
Internal Revenue Service
Fresno, CA 93888-0002
Hi Yolie,
You may as well just file as married filing separately. You’d get the same amount doing that as filing the injured spouse form and you’d get your refund much faster.
The only place it says mailing address this is what it says..
Since you are filing your return electronically and you chose
Mailing to use an electronic signature, you do not mail your return.
now i am really confused… :/ i wasn’t sure where to send the form and when i Google it. it said to send it to your local irs office. and that was the closest one to us. how do i know where to send it then? i e-filed threw hr block. and i don’t see a address anywhere on the paperwork… also i needed to send the w-2’s with it?? i never heard this.. or read it anywhere it said to just send the form. i filled out everything ssn.. income for each …taxes for each.. dependents for each.. i also made sure to put the names in the same order as on the taxes. ( i saw that was a big thing to do.) no where did i see i needed to send in w-2’s…. where on my taxes would it show me the address?
I’m filing on turbotax, in texas. Im filing a injured spouse form, my husband had no income for all of 2013, I worked all year. I’m not sure what I should be putting in the allocation part of the form, especially since he did not get any income (it’s all mine) . Also im not sure what to put on the personal exemptions part. should i leave it all blank?? Please help! it’s a bit frustrating. By the way I have no kids so I’m not getting any of those credits.
Hi Lynn,
It’s so stressful when you’re expecting a refund and then you get that notice form the IRS. I feel for you.
Since Wisconsin is a community property state it will reduce your refund because even though your husband earned most of the income and most of the deductions–in a community property state it’s half yours. Hence, according to the IRS, half can go towards your debt.
That said, you were smart to allocate the children to your husband. That was the right thing to do.
You will not be able to follow up on your return online. It’s been pulled from the standard tracking so ignore the “Where’s My Refund?” button.
Normally I say expect the IRS to take 8 weeks to process your refund. Now, it’s tax season again and it’s busy, and there’s all sorts of talk about staff cuts and delayed refunds so don’t hold me to that time frame.
Wait for at least two weeks before you call to see if the injured spouse form was received.
Now, you said you mailed it to your local IRS office. Is that the address on the instructions on your regular tax return? It’s really important that you mail your injured spouse form to the same address as where your original return was filed–even if you e-filed the return.
Also, did you attach your W2s? That’s also important. If you didn’t mail your form to the right place or attach your W2s, you might want to resend it.
You said you sent the form only 40 miles away, but I’m thinking that you should have sent your form to Fresno, California. I could be wrong about that, which is why you want to check your filing documents, but do make sure the form went to the correct address.
Good luck.
Hello jan, i have a question. my husband and i filed MFJ this year on our taxes.. and when they were sent out they said they would be in my bank by today.. well guess what.. turns out i have a debt threw the us department of education. ( i compleatly didnt know about)well i called them and they told me to do a Injured spouse form.. and when i started looking at this. my question is.. my husband made all the money last year.. except 2500 witch i made and they only took 16 dollars out in federal taxes. my husband made over 65000 and they took out over 8000 in federal. our total return was 7200. i know since i live in a communal state ( wisconsin) the rules are different. so does that seriously mean he will only get back 3,000?? because of my debt?? we have 3 children that when i filled out the papers i put on his side. i am so upset about this because like i said it was his money. and this loan was from 2006?? before we were married.. and i sent this form in yesterday to our local IRS witch is only 40 miles away. so when can i find out if they got it? or how do i find out if they got it? when can i call and see if they recived it and if he even got approved for it? if you cant tell i am very stressed out about this.
Hello jan, I have a question for you. My husband and I filed our return on january 2nd and our state came in and then it said our federal was begging held by the us department of education.. witch I compleatly forgot I even had that loan.. my problem is they took my entire federal witch was 7,270.. and 99precent of that money is my husbands.. I only made 2500 last year.. and only paid in 16$ in federal taxes.. he made over 65,000 and paid in more then 9,000 in federal… so I called around and filled out the injured spouse for him..and we sent it in last night. My question is, I live in wisconsin.. we have 3 children when I filled out the p apper I put that he takes care of all of them (obviously) but is it true since I live in a communal state we will still only get half of the refund back? If any? Even tho its almost all his money ? And how long should it take to see if he is approved? And will it show on line when they have received this form? And reviewed it?
Hi Courtney,
The IRS has cut back on staff so much that about all you’re going to get is a computerized answering machine. What the voice said was that your return as accepted–meaning they will process the return your sent them. Sometimes they reject a return and you have to fix it and resend it.
They’re telling everyone that the refund should take 21 days. Your’s will take longer. Even if you manage to get through to a human being and change the status–it will still delay your refund. I’d just wait this one out and when you do get your money-go ahead and pay off that debt. Then you’re done with it and won’t have to wait anymore.
hi there jan, so my husband and i filed injured spouse for the first time this year. i owed student loans before we were married. is there anyway we can call and tell the irs we do not want to participate in it. i only owe 4,000 and i would rather them just take the money than wait 11 to 14 weeks. or could it take a shorter amount of time because its so small? also when i call it says it has been excepted and i should get it back in 21 days? what is that all about?
Hi Greg,
If the loan has been discharged, you should be fine and should not have to flie as injured spouse.
And when I called the department of tresaury sysytem it say offset that was in 2013 feb thats when she filled discharge disibility even thought they are saying she jas been discharge and ows nothing tresuary is saying something else its been a year since she was approved and owes nothing why is the tresuary saying something else
hello this is Greg again we had called Department of Education they said her loan has been discharged we talked to a lady on Friday night I forgot to tell you so do I need tp still to fill out injured spouse form even though her loan was discharged
Hi Gregory,
You will need to file the injured spouse form every year until the student loan issue is cleared up. Otherwise your refund will be taken to pay the student loan. Sorry.
My wife owes a stundent loan that was offset we did injured spouse form and she is disabled she filled out disabled form and was approved for it do we need to do injured spouse form still and how do we found out if disabled form is the system and the irs will not take my refund
Hi Jess,
I’m not sure how it works from the other end. I’m really good at the injured spouse side, but I don’t know about how it works on the receiving side. A friend of mine (who receives child support) said she waited for ages for her ex’s new wife to file for injured spouse–but I think it’s different depending upon what state you’re in as well. Sorry.
Hi T Hunter,
The Department of Ed probably had the offset immediately while it takes about 12 weeks for the injured spouse form to be processed. I’m thinking you just got a standard form letter. Wait for your injured spouse paperwork to finish up.
Hi Elisha,
Sounds like you did get the run around. Maybe you had Katie’s lady.
I’m going to give my “talking to IRS agents” talk. Maybe this will help, maybe not.
Rule number one: when you call the IRS, be prepared to be on hold for about an hour. Have something else to do while you wait. Rule 2: use your best Sunday school manners. Please and thank you go a long way. Rule 3. Make sure you get their name and ID number. If you don’t catch it, make sure you ask for it so that you can write it down. I find that if you let them know that you’re writing their name and ID number down, they are sometimes a little more careful about what they tell you. (Example: I once had an IRS phone person give me information that I knew for a fact to be incorrrect. I asked for her name and ID number so that I could put in with the tax return and I had a supervisor on the line so fast my head was spinning.)
Now, if that doesn’t get you anywhere, you may need to ask to speak with a supervisor.
Bottom line, they should be able to say yes or no as to whether your injured spouse form has been received. And, if you were denied, they should be able to explain why. If not, then they should be able to turn if over to someone who can or you should get something in writing.
Hi Katie,
I’m sorry you got treated so badly by the IRS. I’m hoping that by now you’ve received your refund. If not, you need to call again and follow up. If you get treated badly, you need to ask to speak with a supervisor.
Do make sure you get transferred to the injured spouse division before you start asking questions–they know what’s been received and what hasn’t. (And they’re usually nicer!) But, you may have gotten the rotten tomato. Or maybe she was having a bad day. Sorry about that.
Hi Alison,
I apologize for taking so long to get back to you. I’m kind of back-logged here. And so is the IRS. Hopefully, you’ve already gotten your refund, but if not it’s because they are so overwhelmed.
I’m finding that even a simple phone call using my special “practitioner priority line” has me on hold for over an hour at a time.
The taxpayer advocate is a wonderful service and they do the best they can in a situation. That said, they can’t get blood from a turnip. If the backlog is that bad–they might not be able to force the issue. But if they told you 10 days, I’m thinking (hoping?) they were in a position to help you and you’ve already received your refund.
Thanks Tara!
hi jan,
my taxes were acceptes on feb 21. i filed an injured spouse form because my husband has student loan debt. it is now june 9th. i have not received my refund. i have a tax advocate who says that this should be resolved in 10 days. the advocate told me this on june 3rd. i never received any letter and nobody at the IRS can tell me why it is taking so long. I live in Ohio. Can i really expect this to be resolved in 10 days? how affective are the tax advocates?
Question. My ex owes over 40000 in back child support. I just started getting the current order in January. Now that the CS enforcement stepped in they also sent the offset letter to the IRS. What’s the requirements on collecting anything from him this year? Not that I’m being greedy, but I’ve been supporting my 10 year old all alone without help. If I do receive anything what’s the time frame if his current wife has to fill out the IS form?
My husband and I efiled with Turbotax again. We filled Injured Spouse Form. It was processed and sent Apr 3 t Dept of Ed. and he has always remain protected from my former debt. The IRS says to wait till 11 weeks up even though the dept of Ed has sent the offset letter and claims to have received the funds. Should I refile injured spouse form. May 12 is date told to call back but return was accepted February 2 according to Turbotax. What should we do?
Ok I have talked with u before but, I filed with my hubby and he made all the money i had kids on my part also im not in a CP state and the IRS is giving me the run around they said im getting and im not and im getting and im not and so I called the IRS today and he said to call the offset place to see whats going on so i did and she said that she seen where my little check went to child support but dont see where my big check did but My TA said im not getting anything back at all! But last year i got it all back and it was the same thing last year as this year! I didnt work blah all that! How can they take my part for my hubbys back child support? What can I do to find out whats going on without getting the run around? I filed Injured spouse with my return on Feb 14th!
Hey Jan,
Ok, So I had filed my taxed MFJ and got my tax return on 02/28/13. I was unaware about the Injured Spouse form until I received a letter from the IRS telling me that the other 3K of my return was taken for my husband’s backowed child support. I filed the form (by mail) seperately on March 4th 2013 and have yet to hear anything. When I called the IRS (and waited for over an hour) a lady rudely told me she could not tell me anything and that I’d have to just wait until i had received something or nothing at all. When I asked if the lady could even just tell me if she received the paperwork, she stated “no”. At this point I am at a loss on what to do. The OKDHS caseworker told me to file an Injured spouse form, so I did. I am trying to just find out if my paperwork was even received. Thank you for assistance. Oh, we live in the state of Oklahoma, my name was filed first, I had no debts, and I was the one who recieved all the deductions when our return was originally filed
Katie
Thanks Jan! =))
Thanks for the help Jan! As a recap: they closed my IS case on 3/7 and they’re mailing my check out on 3/29. I was told if your getting it DD then it’s 2 wks for it to be in your bank account, and if you’re getting a paper check it’s 3 wks before they mail it. So hopefully that helps anyone else who has the same question. BTW.. WMR actually updated today and I filed the IS form separately after e-filing. 🙂