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New Member
posted May 31, 2019 4:44:52 PM

My husband owes back child support. If we file joint will IRS take all of it to pay child support even though a portion of the refund is mine?

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1 Replies
Alumni
May 31, 2019 4:44:54 PM

Not if you follow injured spouse procedures, although one solution is to allow the offset so the debt is wholly or partially paid.  It's not going to go away.

Injured spouse relief is when one spouse's refund allocable to her/his income is taken by the Government to satisfy child support, back taxes, an unpaid student loan, etc.

You need to insure that if you file a joint return, you include Form 8379 to claim injured spouse relief. This will prevent the "injured" spouse's share of the refund from being offset by the debt. Turbotax supports this form.   Injured spouse (Form 8379) is included under the Federal Taxes tab.  Look at under the federal review for other tax situations.

While an injured spouse return can be e-filed, including injured spouse on your return will delay your refund by about 14 weeks (11 weeks if it is e-filed.) 

See the IRS's Q & A on injured spouse here. http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=109283,00.html
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Community Property States

You don't mention where you live.  As an additional comment, the rules are sometimes different if you live in a community property state (Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin.)  In those states, even with injured spouse relief, the relief may not be as complete as it would be in other states.  If you live in one of those states, see IRS Publication 555 for a more complete discussion of injured spouse in a community property state.  It can be found at http://www.irs.gov/publications/p555/ar02.html#d0e928