topic Re: Got married last year, file jointly or (Wife owes IRS...) in SmorgasBoard

Got married last year, file jointly or (Wife owes IRS...)

Anonymous — Sun, 05 Feb 2017 23:25:47 GMT

Got married last May. What are pros and cons (or advices) If I were to file jointly (she does not work yet but she gets social security disabilty income) while knowing she owes some IRS (not sure the amount, she will call IRS tomorrow to hopefully find out.

Thanks

Re: Got married last year, file jointly or (Wife owes IRS...)

Anonymous — Mon, 06 Feb 2017 00:25:40 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Got married last May. What are pros and cons (or advices) If I were to file jointly (she does not work yet but she gets social security disabilty income) while knowing she owes some IRS (not sure the amount, she will call IRS tomorrow to hopefully find out.

Thanks

If you file jointly and she owes the IRS will retain any refund toward the amount due. If you file separately you will get any refund due.

The perk would be that you will probably get a larger refund depending on income for two people...

I guess it really depends on how much she owes.

Re: Got married last year, file jointly or (Wife owes IRS...)

Anonymous — Mon, 06 Feb 2017 03:36:27 GMT

This is very tricky. If you file you together as the above poster stated which is correct, any amount she owes will be deducted from what you get back. There are advantages filing jointly so look into that also and decide from there.

If it is not a big amount, then for the sake of love maybe you guys can file together and pay it? Certainly up to you. Congrats on your union.

Re: Got married last year, file jointly or (Wife owes IRS...)

UncleB — Mon, 06 Feb 2017 13:47:34 GMT

I'm not up on the latest, but there used to be a way you could file joint but as an 'injured spouse' that would keep one person's refund from being applied toward the past-due amount owed by the other. The process for your state return is likely similar but will of course vary based on the state you're in.

You'll definitely want to seek out a tax professional... this will likely be beyond the scope of TurboTax.

Note: Do a search for "Form 8379" for more info.

Re: Got married last year, file jointly or (Wife owes IRS...)

compassion101 — Mon, 06 Feb 2017 18:54:56 GMT

Be aware that you will not be eligible for any EIC or education credits, will cut in half your standard deduction, and I think also child tax credit will be disallowed or at least half of it. If you make alot of money, own a home and claim itemized duductions, don't have kids, and didn't go to school, than you probably won't feel the negatives of married filing seperately. But if all of those aren't true, as suggested above, you should be able to qualify to get much of those credits by filing a joint return and claiming injured spouse. See here for more info on that.

Re: Got married last year, file jointly or (Wife owes IRS...)

Anonymous — Mon, 13 Feb 2017 19:07:44 GMT

Thank you all. After doing taxes in different ways (Maried jointly, sperated, etc...) and speaking to IRS agent, the agent recommended that I file Spouse Injury with specific form.

This is the year where I get the highest refund (because of dependent, student loan, etc...) so I'll go with Married, jointly with Spouse Injury. Next tax year we'll file without S.I. and let them take our refund since she owes $4,000 and it takes a year or 2 to be paid in full.

Cheers!

CAMailman

Re: Got married last year, file jointly or (Wife owes IRS...)

Anonymous — Tue, 04 Apr 2017 20:14:52 GMT

Update:

Dang! IRS actually took 4K from refund leaving me $180 refund LOL! I guess IRS denied my request for Spouse Injury.

But hey...at least her IRS debt is paid in full!

Re: Got married last year, file jointly or (Wife owes IRS...)

ChargedUp — Wed, 05 Apr 2017 01:10:17 GMT

If you filed IRS 8379 it takes 2-3 months to process and you will get a paper check in the mail for the difference if they approve it. I just got through dealing with something very similar.

Re: Got married last year, file jointly or (Wife owes IRS...)

Anonymous — Wed, 05 Apr 2017 01:15:23 GMT

@ChargedUp wrote:
If you filed IRS 8379 it takes 2-3 months to process and you will get a paper check in the mail for the difference if they approve it. I just got through dealing with something very similar.

Hmmm....Even I got IRS letter recently telling us that IRS took most of refund & applied my new wife's 3 tax years (2008, 09 and 10).

Either way, I don't mind. Thanks for the heads up.

Cheers!

CAMailman