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If you are filing separately the IRS cannot take your refund,  Married filing separately does have some disadvantages for some taxpayers.

Generally, filing jointly will give you a bigger refund or less taxes due. When you file separately, your tax rate is higher and you won't be able to claim:

• Education benefits
• Earned Income Credit (EIC)
• Child and Dependent Care Credit (usually)
• Adoption Credit (usually)
• The same benefit married filing jointly couples get for personal exemptions, itemized deductions, the Child Tax Credit, and capital losses (all of these deductions are reduced by half)
• The standard deduction if your spouse is claiming itemized deductions.

On top of that, if you live in the community property states of Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington, or Wisconsin, you have to deal with  community property allocations and adjustments , which adds extra work and complexity to your tax preparation chores.

If you file jointly, you could file for injured spouse and they will not seize your portion of the refund.

Here is a link to help you do the injured spouse if you need to:

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1910698-how-do-i-file-form-8379-injured-spouse-allocation