Donald Hughes Posted October 3, 2024 Report Posted October 3, 2024 New Client for us to fix previous issues. Question is I have a divorced (12/1/2022) who was married to a Dr in 2020 and 2021 who filed their MFJ returns in a rather interesting fashion with balance due. The end result is the 2022 and 2023 refunds from his ex-wife (our client) are being taken to satisfy the MFJ debt. She spoke to IRS and was directed to file an Injured Spouse for 2020 and 2021. 2020 and 2021 have been amended, not sure of the date but the return should still be live due to the 1040X. My questions are, can she file IS without his signature for 2020 and 2021? She has a Divorce Agreement stating the debt is his to take care of, not shared. For 2022 and 2023, since she is not married to the Dr, she cannot file IS as she is no longer a spouse, correct. Please share your thoughts. Thank you in advance. Quote
jklcpa Posted October 3, 2024 Report Posted October 3, 2024 Form 8379 is filed solely by the injured spouse that was one of the filers of a MFJ return, so in your client's case, YES, your client is able to file this form. Instructions state that the names should appear in the order that they appear on the MFJ return, but then there is a check box for which filer is the injured spouse, and then that person is the one filing the 8379, and it does have only one signature line. https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8379.pdf https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i8379 Quote
BulldogTom Posted October 3, 2024 Report Posted October 3, 2024 The details are sketchy in the OP, but my question is if Innocent Spouse is the better route. I may be wrong, but I think that if the DR was doing "creative" things with the return and the spouse had no knowledge of that part of the return, the correct relief to request is Innocent. I thought if the debt came before the marriage, you use injured when the IRS tries to take the money from the Joint return. If the debt came during the marriage and is the result of "creative bookkeeping" on the part of one spouse and the other spouse is in the dark, then you use innocent. Am I correct or wrong. Tom Longview, TX 4 1 Quote
Lion EA Posted October 3, 2024 Report Posted October 3, 2024 https://www.irs.gov/individuals/innocent-spouse-relief https://www.irs.gov/individuals/injured-spouse-relief 1 Quote
jklcpa Posted October 3, 2024 Report Posted October 3, 2024 @BulldogTomThanks for your explanation and the correction! Quote
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