What happens when a married couple owes taxes for a previous year but are now divorced? Will the IRS hold refund money from both parties equally?

[scott_e_wilson]

We still owe for 2023 income taxes from when we were married. Will any refund received individually be applied equally to the outstanding balance or will the former primary spouse have to bare the brunt?

[MaryK4]

If you filed a joint return with a balance due, you and your ex-spouse are joint and severally liable for the tax debt.  The IRS will collect from both parties.  The tax refund from either or both will be used to pay the debt, and it is not necessarily equally.  

[scott_e_wilson]

Thank you! I figured that would be the case, but I wanted my suspicions confirmed. Is there a benefit for us filing at about the same time, or does it not matter?

[SusanY1]

There isn't any real benefit to either of you filing at the same time.  However, they will likely apply the refund from the first return filed, though, so the two of you may want to discuss how you want to handle refund amounts as they are likely to take different amounts from each of you - taking as much as possible from the first return, and additional amounts, if needed, from the second.  

For example if you owe $5,000 and there is a $6,000 refund on the first return, they will hold $5,000 from that one and refund $1,000.  If the balance owed exceeds the full refund, they will take all of the refund from the first spouse and then take the remaining balance from the second.  

 

[Opus 17]

The only thing you can try is to apply for innocent spouse relief.  You would either argue that you owed the tax on a joint return because of shenanigans by your spouse that you didn't know about (even though you signed a joint return) OR that even though you both owe the tax, it would be more equitable for it to be paid a different way than the IRS decides to take it.

I don't think the odds are very good with this, and I would wait to apply until after your return is processed and you find out if and how much of your refund is offset for the debt. 

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/innocent-spouse-relief