My wife owes money to the gov from a student loan before I met her. We have two children now and she is a stay at home mom. We live in California. Best way to file? Thnx!

[DoninGA · Accepted solution]

File as Married Filing Jointly and you complete a Form 8379 Injured Spouse Allocation so the IRS will not seize your portion of any tax refund.

See this TuroTax support FAQ for Form 8379 - https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1910698-how-do-i-file-form-8379-injured-spouse-allocation

[SweetieJean]

In community property states, overpayments are considered joint property and are generally applied (offset) to legally owed past-due obligations of either spouse. However, there are exceptions. The IRS will use each state's rules to determine the amount, if any, that would be refundable to the injured spouse.

[macuser_22]

And if you thing filing separately will be better, it would probably be worse since in CA you must allocate income between both spouses when filing separately.   That is you spouse, that had no income, would have to file reporting half your income on her return and you would report half on yours.   While any refund that she gets would not be attached, the overall tax would probably be higher and many credits cannot be claimed when  filling separately.

Of course, the sooner that the loan is paid off, the sooner the tax offset will go away.