You Need to Understand When IRS Innocent Spouse Relief Can Be Applied
Most of the time married couples might choose to file their income tax return jointly as this way of filing will allow them certain benefits.
By filing their tax return jointly, they will both be separately and jointly liable for all taxes or any additions to it, such as penalties or interest that can arise out of their joint returns, even when they divorce on a later stage.
Separate and joint liabilities mean every taxpayer are responsible legally for total liabilities.
This means that if you are married and filed your returns jointly, each spouse generally will be held responsible for taxes that is due, even when only one earns all of the income or are responsible for claiming credits and deductions that are improper.
This will also be true in any divorce decree, where it states that the former spouse is responsible for amounts that are due in joint returns that were filed previously.
In certain cases, it will be possible for a spouse to apply for innocent spouse relief from being separately and jointly liable.
About IRS innocent spouse relief
It can be possible to be relieved from responsibilities of paying tax, penalties, and interest when your previous spouse reported certain items improperly or omit some items from your tax return forms.
Usually, when you qualify for a relief, any tax, penalties, and interest that is due, will be collected or payable by your previous spouse or current spouse if not divorced.
However, if you don’t qualify for relief, both of you will still be responsible for paying the tax, penalties, and interest. The IRS will collect it either from your previous spouse, current spouse or from you.
After filing an 8857 form, the IRS can work out the taxes that you might be responsible for paying, and if you want to qualify for relief you will need to comply with the following conditions.
When a joint tax return was filed with improper claims of certain items, or additional income that wasn't declared for tax by your previous spouse or spouse that you weren’t aware of.
If you can prove that when you signed these returns, you didn’t know or needed to know of this improper information on your tax return forms.
Circumstances and facts to prove the unfairness of holding you liable for the improper information that was filed on your tax return by your previous spouse or spouse at a specific time.
In proving that your previous spouse or spouse and you didn’t transfer property to each other in order to be fraudulent against the IRS or any other 3rd party, like a partner in business, your ex-spouse, or a creditor.
To qualify for getting innocent spouse relief your will need the following requirements
To evaluate and determine if you will qualify for this relief, the IRS will look at your relationship status whether you are separated, still married or divorced, your work experience, education, mental or physical disabilities, as well as your involvement level with finances in the household.
They will consider certain factors, although, there will not be one specific factor to ultimately decide whether you will qualify for a relief. If you are in the process or already divorced from your spouse who filed a return that is false on behalf of yourself, it will be a positive factor in your favor if you are the one that was wronged.
It won’t just be enough to proclaim that your spouse lied or you didn’t know what you signed, to qualify for a relief. If you suspected any irregularity or knew about any reason your spouse cheated on the tax returns, you won’t qualify to get a relief, as well as when you would have benefited from an inaccurate filing of the return.
When you seek this relief and usually filed tax returns jointly, you will need to meet with certain conditions as follows:
In the case where your spouse didn’t declare all the income on the tax returns, or some credits and deductions was improper.
When you didn’t know about any of these irregularities or didn’t have a reason to know at the time you signed the tax returns.
If it’s not fair to hold you responsible for any of these irregularities, such as if you don’t have a degree from college, or when you are in an abusive marriage and in fear of bodily harm if you question these irregularities.
If you seek innocent spouse relief your chances will be good to obtain it if you can prove that in spite of your efforts to make sure that the returns were correctly filed, your spouse still tricked and deceive you into signing it.
Usually, the spouse, who handles finances and prepares the returns, will only get the other one to sign it without any explanation of the contents. Remember that these tax returns are legal documents and it’s important to know what the contents are and whether it’s correct.
With joint tax returns, both of you will be held liable for penalties or interest, as well as fraudulent activities on your tax returns.
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