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 Michael,
It depends. If you claim all three children, and all the income is yours–well then, if you’re not in a community property state–then you’d probably get it all. If you live in a community property state, then you’d get half.
I’m guessing, I obviously don’t know the whole story–but I’m pretty sure that’s what you should get.
Hi Ashley,
Yes, the IRS should be able to tell you what the offset is. It’s usually child support or a student loan. It could be a state tax debt.
As far as telling you when you’ll get the refund–they did tell you. About 11 weeks. And that’s about as good as you’re going to get until they actually process your claim.
Turbo Tax had the easy part–telling you you’re not getting your money.
Hi Connie,
A couple of things, but this is the most important one: if you are married and you lived with your spouse for even one day during the last six months of the tax year–then you must file as married–either married filing jointly or married filing separatley. If you claim head of household when you should be filing as married–that’s considered to be tax fraud.
So–filing an amended return is definitely the right thing to do!
Now–given the circumstances–you definitely want to file injured spouse as well.
And–since your husband had no income, and you would be the injured spouse–you should be entitled to all of the refund. So–you should be okay. Whew!
But definitely amend your tax return and do it before April 15th (that way that goes into the record as being filed correctly in the first place.)
Hi Elisha,
Yes, you should be able to qualify for at least some of the credit of not all of it.
Hi Tara,
another good question. Once a check is in the queue for payment, it used to take the IRS two weeks to process. But this year, things seem to be slower for everything. Expect it to take a month and be really happy if you get it any sooner than that. Let us know how long it did take. I bet other people would like to know the answer to that. Thanks.
Hi Erin,
That’s a good question. I don’t know. Usually they don’t fund the back child support so quickly. But, that said, that’s not your problem, that’s the IRS’s problem. It won’t affect your getting your proper refund back.
Hi Angie,
Go ahead and call to make sure that they’ve recieved it. You don’t want to wait for 8 weeks and find out they never got the form.
My husband received an email from Turbotax stating we elected to pay our fees out of our federal refund, but that they are showing his refund was offset due to back child support. they are saying we have two weeks to pay the fees now. We filed injured spouse, and called teh irs and they said they can’t tell us anything that it will take 11 weeks. My question is if turbo tax is saying my husband doesnt have a refund, shouldnt the IRS be able to tell me what the offset is, and how much longer should it take to get my refund. It was accepted on Feb. 15, 2013.
Question. My wife and I have 3 kids we claimed and were suppose to get $5300. Later I found out that they took it all for her student loans. Didn’t know about them. Only been married about 9 months . My wife is disabled and didn’t have a regular income. She was taxed on her SSI disability making our $6300 into a $5300 return. But she wasn’t going to get anything back. We have since talked to her loans and found out she shouldn’t be paying anything and should have had her loans forgiven do to her perminant disability status ( filling out forms not to have forgiven). My question is how much of the $5300 should I expect?
I meant filed AS head of household. Not including my husband at all.
If I’m married but I filed with a head of household with our 2 children as dependents, received a refund, but now want to file an amended return. I worked the whole year, my husband worked none. I want to amend my taxes and change filing status to married filing jointly, but also file the injured spouse form because my husband has past due child support due. Once the IRS processes the form, since they only award a portion of the refund to the injured spouse, would I owe back what I received (what they may perceive as his part of the refund)? Although, I dont believe he would be due any refund because he had no income at all. I live in Florida, a non community property state.
I have a question, Ok I filed the Injured spouse form cause my hubby owes money for child support and I didnt make any money this past year but I have a child I can claim! So I can still get a refund if I didnt work but Still have the add. tax credit? Thanks
I was wondering after an injured spouse claim is approved and the injured spouse department closes your case for refund, how long does it take to get the refund? The IRS agent told me that they approved my claim and closed my case on March 7th. So all that’s left to do is issue the refund.
So if some of my taxes were taken for my husbands back child support and after we filed a return; I sent in form 8379. I noticed that she just got our lump sum child support payment. So how will that work; if the IRS determines I am owed a refund since it was all my money? The IRS isnt goign to make the baby mom give me the money back; so where will the money come from
i wil def. make that call but also yesterday my husband received another letter from child support saying that they took the state money. When I called the person that filed my taxes yesterday he said that they only save my federal taxes but not the state taxes. So the state money is gone for good. 🙁 Now I am worried! What if they do the same with my federal now. Online my federal says that it is still in process but state is finished.
SoI should the entire 8 weeks after I mailed the IS form to contact the IRS, or am I able to call and confirm that they atleast have recieved it? Thank you for any info
Hi Juli,
It could be that the injured spouse form hasn’t been processed yet. But, just to be on the safe side, I’d call the IRS to make certain. I’m guessing that you just haven’t been processed–but you should make the phone call to make sure. 1 800 829-1040. Yes–you’re going to be on hold for a long time.
Hi Erica,
Arizona is a community property state. You will file your injured spouse claim to the same address that your federal return was filed. I’m guessing that you efiled so you don’t know the address, right? I have trouble with that myself. Here’s the address you need.
Department of the Treasury
Internal Revenue Service
Fresno, CA 93888-0002
Charde,
I can’t say you’ll get everything because there’s always some issue I don’t know. But it sounds like you’ll get your refund. If you live in a community property state it will be cut in half though.
hi Jan,
I just received a letter with my refund saying 0. On the bottom explanation it said that it has been taking for my husband’s dept. I did file the injured spouse allocation with my files. Is that normal that I receive a letter from them saying that they took it? Am I not supposed to get a letter that said that they received my injured spouse paper? This is confusing me. i am a little bit worried now 🙁
I am trying to file the injured spouse claim in Arizona my question is are we a community property and Where do I sen the 8379 form in Arizona>? Thanks for your time
husband and I filed joint returns and we received a letter stating that a debt i owe caused an offset however i did not work in 2012 nd we didn’t get married until November of 2012 after the debt was accrued. If we file an injured spouse will the full 7000 be returned?
Thanks for your answer to my question! I found a facebook group that a lot of injured spouse filers are on and they have helped a lot too! I have read some of the stories where people in a cp state have actually received all of their refund back. One lady said her sister has got her whole refund back every year and she lives in WA. Another lady said that they always take 1100.00$, and another lady said that they only took 1/6 of her return being in a CP state. Also, there have been 6 people already that have gotten their direct deposits back this year!! So, it’s taking a substantially shorter time this year for the IS forms!! I will keep you posted and let you know how ours goes and how much and when we get ours back! Your forum is awesome to come to for advice. For any of those others that might want to join a group of people going through this same thing. Here is the link .https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/272344846175042/
Hi Jessie,
I’m so sorry about the death of your husband. I think you should file jointly and claim injured spouse. As the spouse, you are responsible for your husband’s debts and I suspect his debt would be less if you filed jointly.
I’m pretty sure that you will be absolved of his child support payments, but the IRS debt during the year in which he was alive and you incurred those debts together is not so clear cut.
You should probably contact the IRS though for another opinion–I’m not convinced they will come after you, I just suspect that they would.
Hi Becky,
That’s a really good question. What I’m hearing (and anybody out there with experience, please feel free to chime in)–what I’m hearing is that the money gets held and then a period of time is set to allow for an injured spouse claim to be filed before it’s actually distributed. At least, I’ve had calls from women who were supposed to receive the funds but didn’t because they were being held for Injured Spouse claims.
Hi Katalina,
Generally they say it will take about 11 weeks to process an injured spouse return. I wouldn’t count on it to be any faster. Sorry.
Hi Ali,
Yes, you’re right. If your husband would have had the refund, the refund would be his and it would go towards his debt. Sorry.
This forum is amazing!!!!! Question about getting the refund after filing the injured spouse form…If we e-file our taxes and the IRS offsets our return due to his back child support and I file the IS form after I see it was offset, what happens to the money that went to the ex-wife? If the IRS has already given her the money from our returns and I am entitled to get part of it back after filing my IS form, do they take that money back from her in order to give me my part of the refund? I’m just curious about how that works because once they put our return in her account, how would they get it back once I file the IS form? That’s the only part I am confused about at this time. This website has answered just about all my other questions. THANK YOU!!
My husband and I were married in 2004 and have always filed our taxes as married filing separately except last year was the first year we filed married/jointly. He owes child support arrears from a time he lost his job. So I filed the innocent spouse form and the refund came to me instead of the ex wife (which all the deductions belonged to me). Last November my husband passed away unexpectly. We have two small toddler girls that now I’m left to raise on my own. Nothing was ever in my husbands name, we always put everything in my name like our house is in my name. So there is no estate to divide when it comes to debt. I don’t want to deal with having to do an innocent spouse form again so I am doing our taxes as married filing separately. I did them last night but haven’t finished yet. So far I get a big refund back but for my husband he owes. I guess I am confused about what happens to the money he owes the IRS if he has no estate or money. As the widow am I responsible? I really do not want to pay it since I have two little girls to support. We live in Illinois. Can the IRS come after me for what he owes?
Hi Jan! I went to a place to file my taxes and they filed an injured spouse allocation together with my taxes because of my husband’s due child support and student loans. Would you be so kind and let me know the steps if you know?
Is there going to be anything in the mail anytime soon to notify me that they have received the papers? how am i going to be notified about when, if and how fast I will get my refund back? I just want to make sure they have really received everything and I don’t have to worry about them working on my case. I have filed 2 weeks ago and I still didn’t get anything in the mail from the IRS.
Thank you for the article. In general, how do they calculate injured spouse? When you analyze me (injured spouse) and my husband’s situations individually, I would have owed money on my return and my husband would have received the refund. Will the IRS determine that my husband was entitled to the refund rather than I and still apply the overpayment to his debt? We live in Oregon
Thank you so much for this informative post! Your replies to specific questions are priceless and have helped me find a solution to my/our tax issue. Thanks!!
@ Julia again,
Also, make sure you let the IRS know you’ve moved. Here’s a link for how to notify them: http://www.irs.gov/uac/Moving-Soon%3F-Let-the-IRS-Know!
There’s a form 8822. (The IRS likes their forms.)
It’s a good idea to let them know, just in case they do send a check instead of using direct deposit.
Hi Julia,
North Carolina is not a community property state so you should probably get all of the refund back. It’s community property states where is gets cut in half. Those are Texas, Wisconsin, Nevada, Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, New Mexico and Washington.
Hi Earl,
You are a perfect example of “injured spouse.” Fill out the form and mail it in.
Good luck with the college debt.
Hi Brit,
Good question. I’m going to answer with another question. Who is the one with the debt? You or your husband? The person without the debt is the injured spouse. So, you want to allocate both children to the injured spouse for the maximum refund.
another question I have is. We are planning to move within the next 2 months. What if we are moved before my check comes in or infos? What can I do then? Even though I gave the people that did the taxes for me my routin # and account # for direct deposit they told me that they often don’t care about that and send you a check anyways….
I wanted to file married-separate first because of my husband’s due child support But the tax-people told me that it is better I file jointly with an injured spouse allocation and wait (2 months) and I will get at least twice more than I would have received filing separate. My husband didn’t work in the year 2012 and I made all the income. I also have 2 dependents. The people that did the taxes for me assured me that I will get the whole amount back it just takes much longer time (approx. 2 months). I am still skeptical about getting it all back! I have read on some sites that you only get half back and the IRS keeps the other half for my husband’s dept. I live in North Carolina and I made all the money, so will I get it all back?
I appreciate any answers. THank you
Plus to add, I claimed my 2 children that live at home with us. My 3rd child is out of the home I did not claim and lives with her mother… Just to add to my info. Thanks
-Earl
Ok here is my question. My name is Earl and I live in Ohio and I been married about 10 years now. My wife was taking some college courses about 5 years ago. During this time she was in a serious automobile accident and was unable to return to school or work and is permanently and legally disabled. She contacted the financial institution about her not being able to attend school anymore and made them aware she was unable to re-pay her debts. They sent her forms to fill out to “prove” her disability. They told her and myself that once these forms were filled out she would have her debts basically wiped out due to the situation. Just recently within the last 6 months started to receive letters from a debt collection agency. This is the first I have ever seen from anybody about this, so I called this agency and explained the situation and they asked we submit paperwork again “proving” my wife was indeed disabled. So I faxed everything they asked to this agency and never received another notice. January 31st 3013 I filed my taxes electronically and get a notice of an offset. I figured ok it’s on me I know I owed a little in back child support which I planned would be offset. I;m thinking ok no big deal I’m caught up now. I come to find that the Financial institution my wife had her loans with and the agency that turned her over for collection took my entire refund was taken to pay the financial institution. Now I filed married joint and she has had no income for nearly 5 years now only collecting SSDI. Would I qualify for “Injured Spouse”?
can you please explain the irs process when an offset occurs is applied to my husbands debt and they recieve my IS form after the fact? as of today the total amount of my refund is showing up as a payment on the dept of education website. how long does it take to get back once this has happened. My taxes were offset on feb 5th and they recieved the IS form on feb 8th.
I have read a lot of the post here. I have not been able to obtain a clear black and white answer as to who to allocate the exemptions to and what are the rules for allocation of exemptions. (each situation is unique) There are four exemptions the both of us and two children. Would splitting the children equally be good or should I give my husband one and me three? Thanks in advance.
Hey Woody,
It all depends, although since your wife doesn’t work I suspect you will get all or most of your refund. Utah is not a community property state.
Hi Nicole,
It all depends upon your state and if there is an offset in your state.
Hi Michell,
Your family has 4 exemptions. You are 1, your husband and your daughters count as 3. The standard exemption is split because half of it is yours even if you have no income.
Hi Annie,
On the injured spouse form, you claim the exemption for your child on your side of the form. That’s what says she belongs to you.
Hi Stacey,
Being in a community property state does reduce the amount of your refund that you’ll be able to have. That said, you’re still much better off claiming injured spouse and getting something than getting nothing at all.
If you make an arrangement to pay off your student loan and you stay current on your payments then you won’t have your refund offset next year.
Oh Tiffany, WV is not a community property state–that’s good for you.
Hi Tiffany,
If you have children, it is almost always better to file injured spouse. If you do not have children then it usually won’t make too much of a difference for you.
? I did my taxes and found out the fms took all of it because of my wifes student loans. she made no money last year just a home maker. when i fill out the form 8379 will i get all my refund back i live in utah. or how do they do that.