Can Current Husband Be Held Liable?

[dnm310]

I live in Arizona. A few months ago I submitted an Innocent Spouse request (from a previous marriage) which the IRS denied. I recently remarried and was wondering, if I file a joint tax return with my current husband, can he be held liable for the back-taxes incurred from my previous marriage? Any advice would be appreciated!

[LdiJ]

Originally Posted by dnm310

I live in Arizona. A few months ago I submitted an Innocent Spouse request (from a previous marriage) which the IRS denied. I recently remarried and was wondering, if I file a joint tax return with my current husband, can he be held liable for the back-taxes incurred from my previous marriage? Any advice would be appreciated!

He could file an Injured Spouse form so that the IRS could not take his share of any refund, but you can expect to have your share taken until the debt is paid off.

[dnm310]

If he files for Injured Spouse protection, is there ANY possibility the IRS can deny it and come back on him? Is it better to file married filing jointly or married filing single? I have read through some of the other threads and am still confused on that one.

As I did not have any income last year, would he get his full refund this year if he filed as an injured spouse, or would half of it still go toward my debt? For future years, I think we'll try to set things up so we have no refund coming and avoid the situation all together.

[FlyingRon]

Injured spouse has nothing really to do with liability. It protects the non-liable parties OVERPAYMENT (i.e., refund) from being used to pay down the other's debt. I.e., money that really isn't the liable parties NOR the government shouldn't be up for the easy grab by the IRS. He'll need to defend against seizure of marital assets if the IRS ever comes after you for that, but absent a lot of equity in things, that's not too common.

The injured spouse computation does compute based on whose withholding the tax was. If he was the only wage earner then yes, most of that refund is protected.

[dnm310]

Thanks for clarifying things. One more question. My divorce decree states that my ex-husband would be responsible for paying all our back taxes (which, obviously, he hasn't done). As mentioned before, I have been denied Innocent Spouse protection and am still being held liable for a debt I didn't incur in the first place. (He was the sole wage earner). Why is it that the IRS can override a judge's ruling? Shouldn't the IRS be bound by a judge's ruling like everyone else?

[LdiJ]

Originally Posted by dnm310

Thanks for clarifying things. One more question. My divorce decree states that my ex-husband would be responsible for paying all our back taxes (which, obviously, he hasn't done). As mentioned before, I have been denied Innocent Spouse protection and am still being held liable for a debt I didn't incur in the first place. (He was the sole wage earner). Why is it that the IRS can override a judge's ruling? Shouldn't the IRS be bound by a judge's ruling like everyone else?

No, because the IRS (federal tax code) trumps a state judge's order. The judge doesn't have the authority to override the federal tax code. The judge had authority over your ex, to order him to pay it, but the judge had no authority to order the IRS to not hold you liable.

Your remedy is to file for contempt against your ex husband for not paying the debt.