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An injured spouse claim will not help you get your part of the refund if both you and your spouse owe the debt. For example, any tax due on a tax return filed as “married filing jointly” is a jointly owed debt. If the couple’s refund is withheld in the future to pay the debt, neither spouse is an injured spouse.
What qualifies as an injured spouse?
You're an injured spouse if your share of the refund on your joint tax return was (or is expected to be) applied against a separate past-due debt that belongs just to your spouse, with whom you filed the joint return.
We have What Is Irs Form 8379s to the most popular questions from our customers. If you can’t find an answer to your question, please contact us. Send the sample to other parties via email, generate a link for faster file sharing, export the template to the cloud, or save it on your device in the current version or with Audit Trail added.
Your Best Solution to Fill out IRS Form 8379
This procedure should generally be followed only when you are amending your original return to claim a joint refund. There is an understatement of tax because your spouse omitted income or claimed false deductions or credits, and you didn’t know or have reason to know of the understatement. At the time the tax return was signed, the innocent spouse did not know, and had no reason to know, about this understatement.
- If your taxable income for the tax year in question is $0.00, then your “share” of any refund is also $0.00.
- In some instances, only one spouse is responsible for this overdue debt.
- Thus, even innocent spouses are responsible for helping to shoulder the debt burden of the other.
- If you answered ‘Yes,’ then you technically are not an injured spouse.
A tax document known as IRS Form 8379 can be used to reclaim a portion of a tax refund that has already been utilized to settle an unpaid debt. The IRS Form 8379 can be easily filled by a PDF form filler. PDF is a simple file format to present any document or form. It is important to have PDF software for these kinds of tasks. This article will help you realize all the IRS Form 8379 instructions and how to fill it up using the most used and preferred tool, Wondershare PDFelement – PDF Editor.
Where do I send the 8379 Form?
The answers you input for each line will determine the total number of lines you need to complete. For instance, if your marriage is recognized by a community property state law, then you can skip Lines 6 through 9. Sometimes, answering “no” will end the application altogether. If you’ve submitted the form, waited, and still haven’t heard back, you can call the IRS or the Bureau of the Fiscal Service to check the status. To expedite the process, make sure that your form includes all of the necessary attachments and is error-free before you submit it.
Each https://quick-bookkeeping.net/ will help determine whether you are an injured spouse, and walk you through relief options for your specific situation. Some or all of the income reported on the joint return must be your income from a job, self-employment or investments. If your taxable income for the tax year in question is $0.00, then your “share” of any refund is also $0.00.