Making Taxes Less Taxing!

I don’t owe taxes or debts but my spouse does.  How can I prevent my refund from being taken to pay his or her debts? 

Both individuals should contact the IRS at 1-800-829-1040 between the hours of 7am to 7pm Monday through Friday and the Financial Management Service at 1-800-304-3107 between the hours of 7:30am to 5pm Monday through Friday CST to make sure that an offset will not occur under their respective names and social security numbers. 

However, if you must file jointly with your spouse that owes a debt, you should file Form 8379, Injured Spouse Allocation with your return.  Keep in mind that the filing of this form will delay the processing of your return and the issuance of the refund for as long as 11 weeks.  

Alternately, if the debtor spouse owes a small amount relative to the refund, for example, $500 and the expected refund is $5000, it may be more expedient to have the $500 deducted from the refund and receive the difference in less than 11 weeks. 

Once the difference is sent, you may then send the Form 8379 requesting the refund for the amount that was offset.  In this instance, the application may take up to 14 weeks to process. 

For more information:

FMS: Make The Call

Does Your Spouse Owe Debts? Keep Your Refund With Injured Spouse.