Tax Fraud

[DMMyers]

What is the name of your state? I'm in CA. What should I do after discovered egregious tax fraud perpetrated by my ex. These frauds have put me in serious financial harm, liens on my home, threats of wage garnishments, etc., The fraud is he forged my signature on a POA to a tax representative. As a result, I have not been receiving any of these collection or final intents from either the IRS or FTB. He forged 2017 tax returns and after being told I would be filing separately for 2018 (he's always one year behind via extensions), he went ahead and filed married/joint anyway. Easily proven this is fraud. Yesterday, I receive a notice for the IRS stating I owe $21,000 for tax year 2018 and they intend to levy and/or seize personal property. Ex has been trying to pull a fast one by attempting to force the sale of our home which he intends to use the equity proceeds from sell of house while he enjoys what he has stashed away and leaving me practically destitute. If judge orders the sale of our home and these tax liens over $250,000 come out of proceeds and later I get Innocent Spouse Relief, will I have any recourse once the property is distributed before dissolution, could lose any future rights to be paid this money back? Also, what is the best plan of action to take against him? Criminal prosecution?

 

[Taxing Matters]

Ideally what you want to do is see a tax attorney. Did you file a separate 2018 return? If not, why not? The fact that he filed the forged joint 2018 return would not prevent you from filing your own separate return (and indeed, if you had enough taxable income to be required to file then you needed to file that separate return). You'd then challenge the forged signature on the joint return with the IRS when it raises the issue of the joint return being filed. Be aware that in a community property state you must include on your separate return your share of community income, including your community share of his wages, etc. What that means is that often it is better for both spouses to file a joint return than to file separately anyway. So you'd want to know how you'd fare out of this if the returns were separate rather than joint. If the tax is the same or better filing joint and is paid out of the sale of a community asset like a home then you may in fact not be at any disadvantage in the end. There are a lot of things to consider in this kind of situation and I don't have all the facts to know what would ultimately be in your best interest. For that reason, seeing a tax attorney would be a good idea.

 

[davew9128]

What is the name of your state? I'm in CA. What should I do after discovered egregious tax fraud perpetrated by my ex. These frauds have put me in serious financial harm, liens on my home, threats of wage garnishments, etc., The fraud is he forged my signature on a POA to a tax representative. As a result, I have not been receiving any of these collection or final intents from either the IRS or FTB.

Having a POA on file doesn't end the notices you are required to receive for tax collection.

He forged 2017 tax returns and after being told I would be filing separately for 2018 (he's always one year behind via extensions), he went ahead and filed married/joint anyway. Easily proven this is fraud. Yesterday, I receive a notice for the IRS stating I owe $21,000 for tax year 2018 and they intend to levy and/or seize personal property. Ex has been trying to pull a fast one by attempting to force the sale of our home which he intends to use the equity proceeds from sell of house while he enjoys what he has stashed away and leaving me practically destitute. If judge orders the sale of our home and these tax liens over $250,000 come out of proceeds and later I get Innocent Spouse Relief, will I have any recourse once the property is distributed before dissolution, could lose any future rights to be paid this money back? Also, what is the best plan of action to take against him? Criminal prosecution?

In addition to the advice from Taxing Matters, what happened when you contacted the POA he forged the signature to?

 

[DMMyers]

Ideally what you want to do is see a tax attorney. Did you file a separate 2018 return? If not, why not? The fact that he filed the forged joint 2018 return would not prevent you from filing your own separate return (and indeed, if you had enough taxable income to be required to file then you needed to file that separate return). You'd then challenge the forged signature on the joint return with the IRS when it raises the issue of the joint return being filed. Be aware that in a community property state you must include on your separate return your share of community income, including your community share of his wages, etc. What that means is that often it is better for both spouses to file a joint return than to file separately anyway. So you'd want to know how you'd fare out of this if the returns were separate rather than joint. If the tax is the same or better filing joint and is paid out of the sale of a community asset like a home then you may in fact not be at any disadvantage in the end. There are a lot of things to consider in this kind of situation and I don't have all the facts to know what would ultimately be in your best interest. For that reason, seeing a tax attorney would be a good idea.

Thanks for your response. No. I did not file a separate return because I had no income. I have been a stay at home mom, we've an S-Corp that does $10,000,000 in sales. The taxes were persoanlly assessed to us as shareholders. The corp. has not provided monies to offset the taxes and this is the main reason for the divorce. Since August, I've been jumping through hoops with the IRS and FTB, and finally got a hearing next month for Innocent Spouse Relief because I couldn't even get a job when I found out in July there was a final intent to levy. This notice was provided by a POA when he sent me an email revoking his representation of me (the POA was obtained by ex using a forged signature. I didn't discover this until the POA sent me our file, I didn't even know he had hired someone. By virtue of that, all these collection notices were going to POA. After we separated, I borrowed funds to start a new business, the FTB levied that too as ex concealed this was about to happen. I had to shut my business down until these taxes were handled, ex kept telling me they would be paid, I believe he received the money to pay them and is concealing it. His intent was to just have the equity in the house pay them, he now claims I am not a shareholder with no right to anything. He has withheld money for spousal support due to a fraudulently obtained restraining order which is now rather easy to get and by doing so, the financial incentive is he doesn't have to pay spousal support. I am in the process of having it terminated and will be filing a civil suit against him for that because I have solid proof he and his attorney lied which I didn't have at the time of the hearing. I have his attorney on YouTube on a radio podcast re: spousal support and restraining orders saying lawyers do this all the time because there are big incentives in this for their clients but she always warns her clients that if they get caught, there are civil lawsuits but by that time, she's long gone and the other spouses are mentally wiped out as well as financially when she's finished. He is a vicious man with a shady attorney who is desperate to keep any and all money from our investment of over 30 years. It's a complete crap show. Due to the questionnable activities he was engaging in (hiding monies that were meant to pay these taxes until this divorce is final), and the Innocent Spouse Relief I've been working on, his attorney was told NO to filing separately when they asked and I said no. The breach of fiduciary duty is out of control and the damages to me have been severe. This story is a big one, involving all kinds of things that he's done and I'm the one left to pay the price in every regard. That's why I am considering criminal charges because there are 3 known cases of fraud and all three have caused me severe hardship including handicapping my business to the degree I had to shut it down, thereby unable to make a living until I get equitable distribution to start up again, but he's trying to take that away too. Sorry for the long post, like I said, it's a crap show and there is so much more to this story but that's all for now.

 

[davew9128]

Did the S-corp predate the marriage? If not then community property rules apply and you are a shareholder. What part of CA is this in?