Injured Spouse

[Mochoa86]

If my husband and I file married jointly but I have student loan debt, no income (stay at home mom), and we have 2 children, can my husband file the injured spouse form? How does that work since he is the injured spouse and is the only one with an income? Does that mean they don’t garnish any of our refund or is it still calculated based on their guidelines? 

[Mochoa86]

Also, does filing injured spouse lower our overall tax refund from what it would have been? 

[jgarcia18]

Yes, your husband who is not responsible for the student loan debt will complete Form 8379. This form can be filed electronically with your tax return. The form will ask you to allocate your income so that the injured spouse can have his/her refund. Depending on the state you live in, if community state or not, will impact the allocation of income and therefore affect how much income is related to him and yours. This will in turn affect the refund applicable to the injured spouse and how much of the refund can be garnished.

[ACE28]

Since your husband earned 100% of the income, he will be issued 100% of the refund. Filing an Injured Spouse form does not lower the original refund amount. Caution: Filing Injured Spouse form can hold up the refund for an additional 6 - 11 weeks.