Married Filing Jointly_ During Divorce

[angelcisneros2003]

My mom and her husband are getting a divorce, they filed their taxes as Married filing jointly last year using Turbo Tax so all of my mom's information is still there for him to use. Is he able to file as married filing jointly next year if the divorce is not finalized by Dec 31, 2019 and without my mom's W2 form by using the autofill feature??? I am afraid he will try to take her part of the refund. Please help

[DoninGA]

If he files a 2019 tax return as Married Filing Jointly without her consent, then he is filing a fraudulent tax return and committing perjury.

When signing a US federal tax return, the following is stated on the form -

Under penalties of perjury, I declare that I have examined this return and accompanying schedules and statements, and to the best of my knowledge and belief, they are true, correct, and complete

To report tax fraud - https://www.irs.gov/individuals/how-do-you-report-suspected-tax-fraud-activity

[xmasbaby0]

If your mom's soon to be ex has the pertinent information it is possible that he could import her W-2 to file a joint return, which would be tax fraud if he does so without her consent.  If they are not divorced by the end of 2019, their filing choices for 2019 will be to file married filing jointly or married filing separately. Or if your mother has dependent children living with her she might be able to file as head of household.

Perhaps your mom's attorney could make sure the "ex" is warned against committing tax fraud to head this off at the pass.