Injured Spouse Relief

Sad Couple Sitting On Couch After Having Quarrel

 

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.

_______________________________________________________________________

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

571 thoughts on “Injured Spouse Relief

  1. Me and my Wife E-filled our Taxes with the Injured Spouce form in Janurary 2012. We live in California..
    The Where’s my Refund Website says we should recieve Refund Within 6 weeks. We are now going on our 7th week..
    Should I call IRS to get update, or should I just wait and keep checking that website?
    Thank You

  2. My basic questions is this:
    Where do I send my form 8379?
    Okay..I got married one year ago. I am the only one working. I filed my taxes, had a nice juicy refund coming and they IRS took it all. Every last penny. My husband owed past taxes AND child support! So, I filled out the form 8379. I hope I have filled it out correctly, the instructions confused me a bit. But mos”t annoyingly, I do not have any idea to where I must mail this form. The instructions say to mail it to wherever I sent mailed my tax return. I Efiled, so I have no idea where that is. It says if I Efiled that I must send it to “to the Internal Revenue Service Center for the area where you live.*” I live in the middle of nowhere in Arizona.
    Anyone have any clue where this form should be sent? The IRS instructions say that the address will be on my tax return. It is not. I filed via Turbotax. Their agents are not in any way helpful.
    Thanks in advance.

  3. Hello ! Loving the information found here !

    My question….My wife and I just found recently that our return was hijacked , if you will, to cover some student loans of my wife’s that has slipped into default. We had been working with the lenders and thought all this was straightened out, but they failed to mention even after we had started back paying on the loans they could still garnish the return……anyway I have filled out the 8379 form and sent it on its way.

    We have 1 child and my wife is disabled and I have gotten so much varied information on EIC and my wife’s SSA-1099 forms that I fear I have done something wrong. Is there something specific that should have been done to address the EIC and/or the 1099 forms? I found nothing on the form to check for EIC and the SSA 1099 form listed no taxes being deducted ( I was made to believe this meant the 1099 form did not have to go with the 8379 form but “it couldn’t hurt to send it” to quote a tax specialist in my area) We live in Kentucky by the way 🙂

    Any insight into this would be great ! Thank you !

  4. Hi Emily,
    The best part about the injured spouse relief is that you are still able to claim the Earned Income Credit. I can’t tell you how much you’ll get, but it certainly should be better than last year.

  5. Hey Kjones–
    You’ve answered my mystery question of the day! I feel like a bell should ring and you should get a prize. Your local IRS office is where you return would have been mailed if you mailed it. For example: I mostly prepare St. Louis tax returns–all the St. Louis tax returns go to Kansas City, MO. Some returns go to Fresno, some go to Austin–it depends upon where the taxpayer (not the preparer) lives. Here’s a link to find where you should mail your form to.

    (The mystery question was–why does my software print out where the return gets mailed to even though I e-fle all of my returns? The answer: is because you need to know that if you have to mail something later. It’s been driving me nuts–I keep trying to fix it but my computer says it’s not broken. Duh! Thanks.)

  6. Hey Mindy,
    Sorry about your husband’s knee surgeries. That’s painful.
    So what’s my best guess? With a community property state–when you split the taxes, basically half of what’s yours is his. So you’ll get less than the $4,000, but it’s highly unlikely that you’ll get less than $1500. I think the risk is worth it. Besides–what does get kept will help pay down his debt and the sooner you get that overwith the better. (If I’ve totally blown it, you just go back and file as married filing separate before April 15th.)
    Do file the injured spouse form with your efiled return, it will make things go much faster. Good luck.
    (PS: sorry I had to ask the nasty questions, but I’m glad the answers are good ones.)

  7. My husband owes Student Loans and they took all of our taxes last year, Mine and his. This year I filed for injured spouse. How long will it take if i direct deposit and will I get the earned income credit it’s like 3,000. I claimed our daughter and should be getting the 1,000 from that but I was just wondering if I would get the earned income credit since I claimed her? I REALLY HOPE SO!!! lol

  8. I filed my return electronically. I know i have an offset and i did fill out form 8379….I just need to know where to send it to in the mail….the irs site is saying to my local irs center….Is that correct?

  9. Hi Amber,
    I’m glad you weren’t filing married when you weren’t–that had me a little worried. So your refund was help up before because you filed an amended return–yeah, that can take 16 weeks. It’s not supposed to be that long, but….
    If you file separately, there is no EIC, so if your income qualifies you for EIC, if would do the injured spouse over filing separate. Even without the EIC, you’re still probably better off filing injured spouse over MFS unless there are other issues involved.
    Injured spouse will delay your refund, but not like when you amended your return before. It should only delay you a couple of weeks at the most.

  10. Hi,
    Thank you very much for your reply.
    1.) Yes, We do live in California, a community property state.

    2.) My husband owned his own business as a contractor, for over 20 years, and unfortunately his business has been effected by the economy, as well as 2 knee replacements surguries due to injury (both within the past 2 years , and osteoarthritis. We have custody of our children (4 boys), so he is in no way what you would have assumed by reading my questions.
    He has made no income for the last 2 1/2 years due to his knee surgeries.

    The only reason I am worried about filing jointly is due to the $5,000 arrears he owes for child support from a very long time ago, as well as the back taxes due from about 10 years ago.

    Being that we are in a community property state, and I made all the income, is your best guess, that if I submit the injured spouse form with the Married filing jointly tax return, I would definately get more than just $1,500 back ? I would rather take that slight risk and get closer to the $4,000 for filing jointly.

    Also, if I do submit the insured spouse form electronically with my tax return, will they process this at the same time as my tax return, so that I won’t have to wait extra months to get my money back?

    Thank you very much for your feedback.

    Sincerely,

    Mindy Atlas

  11. Ummm.. well before married I was filing with our children. the amendment was me filing self employment and with W2s at two different places (smart one.. I know). I guess I’m just worried of having nothing in the end and having to wait. Next question is… Filing married separately with children, do or would we get credit for children?

  12. Hey Stephanie,
    First, you and your husband live together so he can’t file as head of household. If you lived together at all for the last six months of the year–no HH. If he comes home fr Christmas–no HH. So that’s not an option.

    But, you can call the IRS next year before you file to determine if there is an offset to your taxes. That way you’ll know ahead of time and can plan accordingly.

  13. Amber–
    1. You were married as of December 31 so you are married for the tax year. Your options are married filing jointly or married filing separately. You have no other options.

    2. If you file jointly–you defifitely want to file injured spouse due to the back child support.

    3. You weren’t married for 2010–what was the hold up? I’m assuming that it was totally unrelated to your husband’s back child support, you should not have filed jointly before you were married.

  14. Hey Heather,
    It seems like different states have different priorities as far as issuing liens agains a person’s tax refund. Since you didn’t start receiving child support until October, I would guess that no lien has been issued yet. But I honestly don’t know.

  15. Hey Shaun,
    You will have tax to pay for the unemployment income that you collected–so that will affect your return somehow. Your wife should still get the EIC for the children though. (You won’t pay in extra–just that whatever tax you would have paid for your unemployment income will come out of the refund.)

  16. Hey Mindy,
    There are two very big issues to think about.

    1. If you live in a community property state–you won’t get the full refund.

    2. Your husband has a history of owing money. As the mean, cynical tax person that I am–I’m screaming RED FLAG! It might by okay, it might not. And you’re the only one who can answer this question. How come your husband has no income? There could be a perfectly legitimate reason. Lot’s of people are out of work right now. But no income at all? No unemployment? No nothing?

    Is your husband working “under the table” so he’s got income but just not claiming it? The reason I’m asking these questions is because if you file jointly with him now–and he turns out to be a “tax problem” for this tax year. You’re stuck with the bill.

    Do I think your husband is a risk? No, I don’t even know him. But have I had to represent wives’ who’ve filed jointly with husbands that later proved to be big risks and were left on the hook for thousands of tax dollars for filing jointly? You betcha! So I’m sort of reading other peoples problems into your question that probably aren’t relevant to your case at all.

    So–do ask the questions and be satisfied with the answers. If you feel perfectly confident that you have nothing to lose, then go ahead and file jointly with your husband. You may not get the full $4000 back, but you will most likely get more than the $1500 you’d get from filing separate. If you have any doubts at all–file separately and put your mind at ease. Remember, if you file jointly and the tax season ends, you can’t go back and amend your return to married filing separate–you’re stuck with your decision.

  17. Hi Joey,
    Do you have children and do they live with you? If not, then you can’t use the head of household designation. But–you can file as married filing separately and that would protect your refund.
    If you do have kids, and they live with you, and you wife did not live with you for the last six months of last year–then you want to file head of household–it’s a much better tax status.
    If you have kids but they lived with her–she could sign the form 8332 to allow you to claim the children for the dependency exemption and the child tax credit.
    If you two decide to file together for some reason, be sure to file for injured spouse (but I can’t imagine wanting to file with someone that you’re not living with and who has tax trouble–there’s have to be a really good incentive for you to do that.)

  18. My husband and I filed jointly last year, and as everyone else were shocked to find out there was an offset. We were suppose to get back a little 6k but only ended up getting a little under 3k after filing the ISAF. Anyways, if there a way to find out if there will be another offset? I believe (after receiving a taunting phone call from the debtor that he had succeeded in taking money out of my childrens’ mouths) that this debt was settled. I know there is still more debt floating out there but not sure if it’s gotten this far. Also, he is wanting to know if he is able to file head of household since he lived out of town for 6mo while working. Paid more than 50% to maintain household etc. we live in California.

  19. Hi. So my husband and I recently got married 12/2011, would we file married still only being married for 30 days out of the year 2011? Also, he owes the State for child support too, and I really don’t fell like waiting to get my taxes until September, like last year (had to file an amendment).

  20. Hello,
    I live in Texas and starting receiving child support in Oct. 2011. I heard that if my daughters father owed more than 5,000 in backpay his IRS refund would be intercepted and given to me. Is this true? I barely started receiveing support about 6 months ago. Does this process take years before it is intercepted? Thanks.

  21. me and my wife got married last year. when we filied our taxes this year we filed jointly. the only income i had was unployment. i owe back support and taxes. we have 3 kids together. we filed form8379 with our return. will we get back the eic for the kids. everything was allocted to her because she had all the income. we live in pa if that means anything

  22. Hi,
    I’m trying to decide whether to file my taxes as Married filing jointly, or Married Separately. If I file Jointly, our refund is around $4,000.00. If I file Married Seperately, it’s only $1500. Here are the reasons I don’t want to file with my husband.
    1.) He owes approximately $5,000 from around 10 years ago, previous to when we got married.
    2.) He has back child support arrears that he owes from a previous relationship, of around $5,000.00.

    He didn’t earn any income this year.

    If I file Married, filing Jointly, and include form 8379 Injured Spouse form with my return, would the IRS refund me the entire $4,000 return, since he didnt’ earn any income and there’s nothing to allocate between me and my spouse, and I’m not legally responsible for any of his back taxes or child support?

    Any input would be greatly appreciated.

    Thank you,

    Mindy

  23. We filed joint last year. Turns out my wife did not pay any taxes on her income as an independant contract. We have not lived together in almost a year. If I file head of household this year will they keep my refund? Is there any way to prevent it if they do?

  24. Hey Elisha,
    There are so many things that could be going on it’s hard to tell without actually being there. (I can make guesses about stuff but it would only be guessing and that doesn’t do you any good.)
    One thing though–file the injured spouse form–it’s your best shot at getting some of that money.

  25. Hi Tracey–
    Yes! File the form! You’ve got nothing to lose now do you? If you don’t file you get nothing!

    Here’s the cheater way to do the form. I’m guessing you used a software package –go back into the return. Save a copy of what’s already been filed. Now go through and check the kids as belonging to you. Then, click on the button to generate the injured spouse form–it does the allocations for you!

    It won’t say how much you get back, but file the form anyway. Good luck.

  26. Hi Jaime,
    Here’s a little trick you need to learn–when you file your taxes there’s a little box that says if the child is yours, his, or both of yours. Always say the children are yours. Your child, your child tax credit. (I’m not sure if all software does that, mine does. If you don’t choose, then it’s assumed that it’s joint. Also, I’m not sure how that works in a community property state either. I know the income is shared, but I’m not sure about the dependents.)
    I honestly don’t know how the IRS will be dividing your return. I’m sorry.

  27. I filed taxes on Feb 3 with the Injured Spouse form. I checked the IRS site and it says we should receive a refund by February 24th. Is that when I can expect it or will that more than likely change or take longer?

  28. Ok I just got married Jan 30th and and filed married jointly and my husband got a letter from child support saying they were only taking 1,097$ out of tax return and we got 3,381$ well we waited and waited for our taxes finally I called the IRS upset wondering where our money was and they told me they offset the whole thing 3,381$ worth, and I said earlier we got a letter saying they would only take 1,097$ worth of it. How can they do this or are they just holding all they money and just taking the 1,097$ or will they take it all and can they do that??? Also when is the latest u can file a injured spouse form? And also can I send the injured spouse form even if the IRS sent my taxes to the child support ppl?? Thank you so much :))

  29. Glad I found this site…I feel better I am not the only person in dire straits…Woke up today to find a deposit in our bank of $330 not the $7300 we were expecting, totally devasted to say the least, found out my husband had a federal debt of $7000, and they took the lot, We have 3 children and both work full time, he goes to full time school as well as works 40 hrs a week, His income was higher than mine, although I will be filing an injured spouse claim, as I have no legal obligations to this debt. We had NO letter from anywhere and he was making monthly payments towards this debt of $330 a month and they still did this to us? Anyhow we live in Utah not sure if that is a community property state or not? My question is is it worth me filing for an injured spouse claim if I earned alot less than him? Also I find the form 8379 confusing as to what amounts I put on there, especially when it comes to the child tax credits. Can I put this amount just all in my name or do I have to split this equally on the form? I appreciate your help, I have been really down and out all day regarding this devastating discovery, it also says it takes 8 weeks to process as we had already filed, and we have to send all our W2’s & 1099″s in with the form.

  30. Thanks so much for replying. Just one more question, how does the child tax credit affect us? ( we only have one child together) Technically would I just be receiving 1/3 of that? Meaning the IRS splits the credit in half, takes my husband half and puts it towards the back child support and then takes half of my half as well? …. Another thing, if we weren’t in a community property state, what would be the difference? I would be entitled to my earned income tax and the whole child care tax credit? Or would it just be half of the child care tax credit? Thanks again.

  31. @Shaina,
    you can e-file the 8379 if you efile it with your tax return. If you’re filing it after you’ve already filed your tax return then you have to mail it. Sorry.

  32. Hi jtaylor,
    You’ve pretty much got the community property thing down pat. The IRS doesn’t actually give out their formula for how they allocate an injured spouse refund, but that’s pretty close from how I understand it. (I am not in a community property state and haven’t had to do an injured spouse return in one. I’m only going by what I’ve heard.)

    You don’t need to send your w2s with your 8379. The W2s go with your tax return so the IRS will already have that.

  33. Hi Brigette,
    You can call the IRS and find that out. I’m guessing that your tax return is filed with your husband’s social security number on top. You can actually request a transcript of the return. Go to this IRS website: https://sa2.www4.irs.gov/irfof-tra/start.do
    If you still live at the same address, it will go to your home. If you’re concerned that he used a fake address, try calling the IRS at 1 800 829-1040. What you’re asking for is a “tax return transcript”. It will show you what was on your tax return, what you owed or what your refund was.

  34. Hi Heather,
    Yours is a difficult situation. Let me ask you this: Did your husband live with you and the kids at any time from July 1, 2011 up to December 31, 2011? If the answer to that is yes–for example–yes, he did come home to live with us for the last two weeks of December–then I’m going to say No, you may not change your status to Head of household.

    Recognize that because you started out filing jointly–switching to head of household is a little suspicious.Even if you’re 100% legitimate–you’re going to be under tighter scrutiny–so make sure that if this is the way you’re going–that you’ve covered your bases. (Have a little documentaion ready in your files in case of an audit.)

    If you change your status to head of household–then your husband will have to file as married filing separately. That’s the worst tax status of all and he’s already in debt so how badly do you want to kick him while he’s down?

    Do you have any intention of repairing your marriage? If so, then don’t do the head of household, do the injured spouse. Yes, you’re a community property state, your refund will be less, but you’re paying down a debt and you’re working together.

    Remember, if he lived with you at all during the last 6 months, you don’t have a choice either. If you are changing your filing status, you must do it by April 15th or you will have missed the opportunity.

  35. Hey Carrie,
    I honestly don’t know. You’re sort of in that “Twilight Zone”. You filed, but what date were your taxes accepted? And even then, let’s say your taxed were accepted after the offset was filed, but maybe the IRS doesn’t have the information in their system yet. (Things take time over there.) I’m sorry, I really don’t know.

  36. Community property states mean what in regards to filing the injured spouse form? Does it mean that if your spouse ( the one who owes back child support) is not going to get a refund and me ( being the one who doesn’t owe anything) is only going to get half of what is expected to be refunded? The government is going to take half of my refund and all of my husbands? We e-filed married filling jointly. How is this going to affect the child tax credit? ( my husband and I have a child together) Also, when I mail in the 8379 form, do I need to include anything else with it? (like w2, 1040a?)

  37. my husband filed income tax electronically last year.we owed money.I was under the impression that I still have to sign the return,but he never asked me to sign.I wonder how I can find out if I was filed on the return.

  38. So I have a rather lengthy situation.. my kids dad got kicked out of the marine corps last year. Prior to that for a year he lived in the barracks. Not with me and my kids. Nor this past year. My kids have lived with me. So technically we’ve been separated.. He got income for a month and a half from the marines and got unemployment the rest of the year with no taxes coming out. He would have had to owe alot of money. So we did ours joint. So he didn’t have to pay. But I only had a little income and but the earned income credit. But now find out all of our taxes are being offset for a military star card he owes. We live in a community property state. But technically the kids since they always have been living with me. I should get the earned income credit. . And he lives in Texas now.. should not have filed a joint return.. what is it I can do? Do I file a joint injured spouse form or can
    I file a amended return changing my filing status..

  39. I have an offset that was filed 1/31/2012. I filed my taxes and they were accept the day before that offset 1/30/2012. Is the offset still going to affect this year’s return, or do they now have to wait until the following year’s return to take my taxes since I filed before the offset was filed.
    The company who filed the offset says it is a “grey area”.
    Thank you

  40. @C.Williams,
    It’s hard to tell what you’ll get back from the IRS. Generally, when I file an injured spouse, I run the numbers to see what the refund would be if I filed the return as married filing separately. That tends to give me a pretty accurate dollar amount as to what you can expect. Unless there’s EIC involved because there is no EIC with MFS returns.
    I know that they compute the refund differently in community property states, so if you live in one of those–you definitely won’t get everything back.
    Why the IRS doesn’t just give out their equation for Injured spouse returns is beyond me. I know I’m only an accountant so I’m not too good at math or anything like that, but I’d sure like it if they’d at least let us know how they were computing it.

  41. Brandon,
    I honestly don’t know. I didn’t prepare the return, I can’t make guesses. One thing–and this has nothing to do with injured spouse–there’ve been problems with the refunds so I don’t count on anything right now. I just got an email today for my efile server provider, we’re switching back to the old efile program instead of the new one because of efile problems. (I think everybody is.) But don’t make plans for spending refund money until it’s in your hand.

  42. Hi Lori,
    I think so. File the form and mail it in. Generally, what he should get back is what he’d get back if you two filed as married filing separately. It’s a little different in community property states, but it’s a good starting point to figure the refund.

  43. I am confused is Florida a community state? I filled an inured spouse per letter I got that my taxes were taken for my husbands past due child support, my husband has not worked in 4 years and now my taxes are being taken when I need it to support our family. We don’t even know where his daughter is at her mom stole her and moved to north Carolina which doesn’t excuesss his not paying child support but I barely can support my kids now how do I know if they gonna accept it and how much will I get back?. Please help?

  44. So I just found out that my husband has some tax penalties from previous years way before we were married, I just got married last July 2011. We filed married filing jointly an they are holding my refund. I w3ent back to where i e-filed my taxes on January 23, 2012 and it was accepted by the IRS on January 24, 2012 this moring and we completed the Form 8379 Injured Spouse Allocation form, and I put it in the mail today. (next day mail, I paid the extra, I think this is worth it). I am the only one working and my husband is unemployed, so all the tax money is under me, so the question is, Well the entire refund be the same amout that was on the original amonut of refund that was on the taxes filed on January 23,2012? and how long will it take to receive, we it take less time since I the e-file was done earlier?

  45. my wife and i just filed on the 31st of jan. i owe back child support so she filed injured spouse. they said the projected date to recieve the refund is on the 18th or 24th of this month. she projected 44oo the refund. how much can we realisticly be expecting and do those dates seem right?

  46. My husband and I filed married joint I have an overdue military star card and the fms too our entire return. None of the federal return was from my income can my husband claim injured spouse and get some of his return back?

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