Innocent Spouse Relief Help
What happens in a situation where one spouse creates the tax liability with their income, but both spouses have signed a joint return, or when one spouse fails to report income and the taxpayers later receive a Notice of Deficiency from the Internal Revenue Service? When a return is filed jointly, each party is jointly and severally liable for the tax debt. This means the IRS can look to collect the full amount of tax, penalty and interest due from either spouse, even the spouse that had no taxable income, properly had wages withheld or made estimated tax payments.
However, the IRS does allow for Innocent Spouse Relief where one spouse can request such relief and not be held liable for the tax liability.
Many times through a divorce, one spouse will agree through the divorce proceedings and in the divorce decree to satisfy any tax debts. Once the divorce is finalized though, such spouse may not pay the tax debt, or they may settle their tax debt through an offer in compromise leaving the other spouse vulnerable and still responsible to satisfy the remaining tax debt. Usually, the IRS is not going to abide by the divorce decree in these types of matters and the divorce decree will hold no weight in arguing over the collection matter with the IRS.
We have been successful in obtaining Innocent Spouse Relief for our clients when we are able to show that the innocent spouse had reason to believe their spouse was going to pay the tax due, or the innocent spouse was completely unaware that their spouse was failing to claim income or preparing the return erroneously.
An individual seeking Innocent Spouse Relief would complete Form 8857 and submit such request to the Internal Revenue Service. The Internal Revenue Service will issue a letter acknowledging receipt of the Innocent Spouse Relief Request, and then issue a preliminary decision of whether or not to grant relief and then a determination notice. The non-requesting spouse is also given notice that the request has been made by their spouse or former spouse.
Internal Revenue Code Section 6015 Relief from Joint and Several Liability on Joint Return states the law on filing for Innocent Spouse Relief. Further, there are a number of court decisions regarding Innocent Spouse Relief that you can review and thus judge how your situation and circumstances relate to previous findings.
If you feel you are being held liable for a tax debt in which your spouse or former spouse created, and should be solely responsible for, please contact us to discuss the issue and your ability to file for Innocent Spouse Relief in more detail. Please contact us or call us at 303-542-1983 to discuss your issues through our free no obligation consultation.
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