If you "paid" the tax due by requesting that the money be debited from a card that you entered into the return, the rejected return did not go to the IRS, so neither did the payment. If the e-file was rejected, then the IRS did not receive it at all. You need to check your own bank or credit card account to see if money was actually taken out.
And....as VolvoGirl said---your ex could not file as both joint and Head of Household--he had to pick one filing status or the other. If he filed as HOH or married filing separately, then your own e-file would not be rejected for duplicate use of your SSN. The fact that your own e-file was rejected for the duplicate use of your SSN indicates that he filed a joint return and entered your SSN on that return. Since you were still legally married in 2023, then the two of you were allowed to file either jointly or married filing separately for 2023.
You need to find out from your ex exactly what he did, and whether there was tax due or a refund for the joint return. If there was tax due---bet you would have heard about it. If there was a refund, then it would have been issued in both names---his name and yours. So what did he do with the refund? How did he have your W-2, 1099, or whatever income documents were issued to you for 2023 in order to enter those on a joint return?
You do not mention whether your relationship is now contentious or civil enough to communicate with your ex. Hopefully you can find out from him what exactly was done with that tax return. You could pay the IRS $30 for a copy of that joint return.
You can get a free transcript from the IRS or for a fee of $30, an actual copy of your tax return.
https://www.irs.gov/individuals/get-transcript
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f4506.pdf
You can also check your online account with the IRS to see what it shows:
Try checking your online account with the IRS (and if you filed a joint return—check for BOTH of you)
https://www.irs.gov/payments/your-online-account
**Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to offer the most correct information possible. The poster disclaims any legal responsibility for the accuracy of the information that is contained in this post.**
