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Questions about offset refund - husband owed child support

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curious_me

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? North Dakota

My husband was in prison from March 2003 to June 2004. While he was gone, our daughter was born and I had to go on TANF. Since we were still married, the child support agency is making him pay the money back - about $1800.00.

He was only home for 4 months before he was arrested again - October 28, 2004. He is back in prison again. I had to go on TANF again (I am a full time college student).

When I filed our taxes for 2004, I had to file as married filing jointly to qualify for the earned income credit. Now, my refund has been offset to repay the child support he owed, and I will be receiving the $142 that was left over. I have filed the injured spouse form. I was wondering though, if I could have filed as separated since he only lived with us (our daughter and I) for 4 months, or would we have to be legally separated to do that?

I guess I just don't understand why they would take it away from me. Child support is supposed to make sure that there is money to raise the child. The money they are taking from my taxes is not coming back to me through child support. I need that money for my daughter, and child support is taking it away from me. I could understand if he was paying child support to another family, or even if we was home working right now. Does anyone have any advice? or comments??

Thanks.
 


Kansas4me

Member
If all you did was file as joint then there is no way for them to know that the refund wasn't going to him. So fo course they would take it. In Missouri you can file as a non obligated spouse. I had a friend who had to do this since her hubby was forever behind on his child support to his other child. They would take 100% of their refund for his back child support. She didn't think that was fair so she talked with a CPA who told her how to file non obligated which meant they can only take 50% of the refund for his back child support.
 

curious_me

Junior Member
Thanks. I guess in ND the injured spouse form must be like your nonobligated spouse. I did file that as soon as I found out they were taking the money, so I guess I will be getting more back eventually. But since it isn't going to help a child right now (it's money that he owes for our child when I was on TANF before, and I'll never see any of it), I wish they could just wait for their money until he is out of prison.
 

Kansas4me

Member
What till he is out of prison?

Honey, it sounds like your hubby isn't going to be out of prison long enough to pay the state back for anything. 4 months and he was arrested again. You need to divorce him and then when you file your taxes you don't have to worry about him. Move on and find a daddy that will support your kids, not live of the prison system.
 

curious_me

Junior Member
Thank you, again. Yes, I'm afraid that you are right. That probably would be the smartest thing to do - although not the easiest, I guess. I don't know if I'm quite ready for a divorce, but I'm wondering about separation. Do you know (or anyone else), if we get separated, can I file my taxes separately from his and still qualify for the EIC? I think I could handle getting legally separated, while I make up mind about what do.
 

Kansas4me

Member
I know legal seperation protects you from nothing. If he incurs a debt you can still be held liable for it. I would assume then that you could file married filing seperate which would not allow the EIC.

I do know that if you file head of houshold you can still claim the EIC

Head of Household
You can use the Head of Household filing status if you meet all these qualifications:

You are unmarried (or considered to be unmarried) on the last day of the year.
You don’t qualify to use the qualifying widow(er) filing status.
You paid more than half the cost to keep up your home during the tax year.
A qualifying person lived with you, in your home, for more than half of the year. A qualifying person is generally your child, grandchild, parent or other relative for whom you can claim a tax exemption. (There are exceptions to this requirement).

On the IRS website it says that if your spouse lived outside your home for the last 6 months of the tax year you can file head of household. However it says that if your spouse was living outside due to special circumstances then they are considered to live with you. You will need to call the IRS and find out if being in jail is considered one of those "special circumstances"

But with that said, you don't even have to file for legal seperation to do this.
 

Snipes5

Senior Member
If you are legally separated you can file Head of Household or Single, whichever suits your situation.

Snipes
 

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