How can I protect myself from false earning claims my husband makes on income tax?

My husband collected unemployment for 10 months in 2001. At the same time, he was self-employed as a handy man. He is, of course, planning to claim only the $250 a week unemployment.

We are already under the scrutiny of the I.R.S. because he failed to claim all of his income last year. We received a bill for another $1300 which, to my knowledge, has gone unpaid to this point.

I'm planning on divorcing him because of this and other financial irresponsibility/neglect but do not have all the money for a retainer yet.

Is there anything I can do to protect myself from any action on the part of the I.R.S. should he be investigated?

Assuming that you are filing jointly, you can refuse to sign the return since you know that it is fraudulent.

But, once you sign it, you are just as liable as him.

Don’t file a joint return. Although there are ways that an innocent spouse can avoid liability for a spouse’s tax on a joint return, these provisions do not apply if the spouse knows of the problem. So file your own return as Married filing separate return.