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Married, but not part of husband's LLC - will IRS look to me to pay his debt?

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Doctor Olivia

New member
What is the name of your state? Reside in Colorado.

Husband has an LLC I am uninvolved in. He has unpaid sales taxes with the state as well as unpaid payroll taxes. Will the state Department of Revenue or the IRS hold me responsible for these debts?
 


Taxing Matters

Overtaxed Member
No. Colorado is not a community property state, so you don't get any ownership of the LLC simply by being married to the owner. If he's the only owner of the LLC, then the IRS and the state will come after the LLC first, and then if it can't pay, they'll look to your husband to pay it. Be aware, however, that while you may not have any personal liability for the debt, the tax agencies may take all some jointly held assets—most financial assets like bank accounts, brokerage accounts, bonds, CDs, etc — rather than just his half of them. The details of exactly how any particular asset is held matters as to what share of jointly owned assets the tax agencies may take.
 

Doctor Olivia

New member
No. Colorado is not a community property state, so you don't get any ownership of the LLC simply by being married to the owner. If he's the only owner of the LLC, then the IRS and the state will come after the LLC first, and then if it can't pay, they'll look to your husband to pay it. Be aware, however, that while you may not have any personal liability for the debt, the tax agencies may take all some jointly held assets—most financial assets like bank accounts, brokerage accounts, bonds, CDs, etc — rather than just his half of them. The details of exactly how any particular asset is held matters as to what share of jointly owned assets the tax agencies may take.
Thank you, much appreciated.
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
What is the name of your state? Reside in Colorado.

Husband has an LLC I am uninvolved in. He has unpaid sales taxes with the state as well as unpaid payroll taxes. Will the state Department of Revenue or the IRS hold me responsible for these debts?
Both the state and the IRS will hold the LLC responsible. If your husband is the person responsible for paying the bills of the LLC or directing how the bills are paid then your husband will also be held personally responsible. If you have joint assets with your husband then his failure to pay those taxes will at least impact you as it will impact your joint assets. You will not personally be held responsible if you are not part of the LLC.

The very worst taxes not to pay are sales taxes and payroll taxes. If you haven't separated as much of your assets as possible, from your husband's assets I suggest that you do so now.
 

Doctor Olivia

New member
Both the state and the IRS will hold the LLC responsible. If your husband is the person responsible for paying the bills of the LLC or directing how the bills are paid then your husband will also be held personally responsible. If you have joint assets with your husband then his failure to pay those taxes will at least impact you as it will impact your joint assets. You will not personally be held responsible if you are not part of the LLC.

The very worst taxes not to pay are sales taxes and payroll taxes. If you haven't separated as much of your assets as possible, from your husband's assets I suggest that you do so now.
Thank you so very much.
 

Taxing Matters

Overtaxed Member
There are two reasons for why sales and employment taxes should be the top priority for businesses to pay. First, these taxes have some of the highest penalties when you add them altogether — failure to file on time, failure to pay on time, failure to make required deposits, etc. Second is that these are known as "collected taxes" which means the business is collecting the tax that the consumer or employee owes the government and holds those funds in trust for the government until paid over to the tax agency. Because other people's money is involved, the tax agencies take a sterner line on collecting it and bankruptcy law does not allow the collected portion of the liability (the tax collected from customers or employees) to be eligible for discharge. In other words, bankruptcy won't be a way to get rid of the collected tax portion of what he owes like it would be for other debts from the business. Too many businesses don't know that until it's too late and they owe the government payroll and sales taxes that they cannot pay. The businesses focus first on paying employees their net pay, paying vendors, paying rent, etc because not paying those will quickly close up the business. They put off the tax problems because that's not as immediate and they believe the business will pick up enough soon to allow them to pay it. While some optimism is needed to run a business, a business owner needs to be able to see when the business is struggling and there's not much change to change that. As the old Kenny Rogers classic song "The Gambler" goes "you need to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away, and when to run".
 

Doctor Olivia

New member
There are two reasons for why sales and employment taxes should be the top priority for businesses to pay. First, these taxes have some of the highest penalties when you add them altogether — failure to file on time, failure to pay on time, failure to make required deposits, etc. Second is that these are known as "collected taxes" which means the business is collecting the tax that the consumer or employee owes the government and holds those funds in trust for the government until paid over to the tax agency. Because other people's money is involved, the tax agencies take a sterner line on collecting it and bankruptcy law does not allow the collected portion of the liability (the tax collected from customers or employees) to be eligible for discharge. In other words, bankruptcy won't be a way to get rid of the collected tax portion of what he owes like it would be for other debts from the business. Too many businesses don't know that until it's too late and they owe the government payroll and sales taxes that they cannot pay. The businesses focus first on paying employees their net pay, paying vendors, paying rent, etc because not paying those will quickly close up the business. They put off the tax problems because that's not as immediate and they believe the business will pick up enough soon to allow them to pay it. While some optimism is needed to run a business, a business owner needs to be able to see when the business is struggling and there's not much change to change that. As the old Kenny Rogers classic song "The Gambler" goes "you need to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away, and when to run".
Appreciate your time and trouble in response. You enlightened me even further. Thank you.
 

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