Injured/innocent Spouse

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What is the name of your state? LA

I owe back taxes from 1998 with my ex husband. In 2002, I was given an over credit, that they applied to this debt, which left me with another tax debt.

I have a judgement against me from 2004

I married in 2005

In 2006 we filed a joint return and filed innocent/injured spouse. We received the full refund.

This year filed the same thing, and they kept half the refund. When I called they said it was because we live in a community propety state.

I was reding on the IRS site, its adobe so I cant cut and paste, but it says that if we didnt file a joint return for that year, that he shouldnt be responsiable. This is stated under the community property portion.

When I asked about dispute this the agent said Cant be done

But I wanted a second opinion.

Can they take half the refund for a tax liabilty that occured before we were married?


Wanted to add, that I did not work in 2007. He was the only wage earner.

[LdiJ]

Originally Posted by elsieshup

What is the name of your state? LA

I owe back taxes from 1998 with my ex husband. In 2002, I was given an over credit, that they applied to this debt, which left me with another tax debt.

I have a judgement against me from 2004

I married in 2005

In 2006 we filed a joint return and filed innocent/injured spouse. We received the full refund.

This year filed the same thing, and they kept half the refund. When I called they said it was because we live in a community propety state.

I was reding on the IRS site, its adobe so I cant cut and paste, but it says that if we didnt file a joint return for that year, that he shouldnt be responsiable. This is stated under the community property portion.

When I asked about dispute this the agent said Cant be done

But I wanted a second opinion.

Can they take half the refund for a tax liabilty that occured before we were married?


Wanted to add, that I did not work in 2007. He was the only wage earner.

The first thing that I need to point out, is that "Innocent Spouse" and "Injured Spouse" are two very very different things in tax law.

In this case, you mean "Injured Spouse", and your husband is the "Injured Spouse".

I don't practice in a community property state, therefore honestly, my knowledge of community property states and income tax, dates back to my days of taking classes for my masters. However, a simplistic answer is that in a community property state, 1/2 of the tax attributes of each spouse is assigned to the other if they file married filing separately, therefore, if you were not employed, then it would make sense that the IRS would take 1/2 of the joint refund towards your old tax debt.

However, "Innocent Spouse" might apply to you in relationship to the tax debt that is owed from your former marriage. I have no idea what you mean by "in 2002 I was given an overcredit" but you might want to consider consulting a tax professional regarding your debt with the IRS, if you have not already done so.

Also, I have a client, who (all on her own, before she was my client, no tax professional had anything to do with it) managed to convince the IRS to declare that she had already paid her fair share of a joint tax debt from a prior marriage, and got the IRS to release her from further liability and assign all the rest of it to her ex husband. Don't ask me how she did it...because I can't tell you. All I know is that I saw the release letter, and confirmed with the IRS that she was released based on the fact that she had already paid her fair share....which is another reason why you might want to consult a tax professional regarding the past debt.

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I have had my taxes withheld each year I have filed since 1999.

In 2002, I was given "too Much" money by the IRS, they adjusted what I should have gotten, and I was over paid $1500. They applied all of the refund to the past debt. And show that I now owe them close to $2100 now for tax year 2002.