If I do not file jointly, will my spouse be protected from my college loan debt?

[Rachel_W]

If you and your wife file separately, her refund cannot be offset for your college loan debt.

However, you can also file jointly and include the Injured Spouse Form 8379, and only your portion of the joint refund will be taken for the college loan debt.  Your spouse will still receive her portion of the refund.

In most cases, it is more beneficial to file jointly if you are married and living together. If you decide to file jointly, please follow these instructions to complete Form 8379 in TurboTax:

• Login to your TurboTax Account 
• Select "Take Me To My Return"
• Click "Search" in the upper right corner, then type "Injured Spouse" in the Search Box 
• When the results populate, click the "Jump to Link"
• Click "Yes" where it asks "Do you want to claim innocent or injured spouse relief?" 
• From here TurboTax will walk you through preparing an Injured Spouse Form 8379

[Carl]

Understand that how you file your taxes has nothing to do with one's debt liability. If your spouse is not a cosigner on the loan, then they have no obligation to pay one single penny of the debt.
However, if you are not current on your loan repayment terms, any refund can be (and probably will be) garnished to pay towards that debt. In the case of a joint return, if the one that does not have a legal obligation to pay it includes form 8379 with the joint return, then their portion of the refund will not be garnished. Understand that their portion of the refund is determined by there share of the tax liability (which is rarely 50%) and their share of taxes withheld from their paycheck (which again, is rarely 50% of any refund due.)