What is “Innocent Spouse Relief?
This is a common problem. The divorce court tells your ex to pay all the taxes, but he or she doesn’t do it. Then the IRS comes looking for you. Unfortunately, the IRS can still collect from you. This may seem unfair, but under the law, if two people owe a debt, the creditor can collect from either one – even if a court tells one of them to pay the debt. You do have two possible remedies. First, you can take your ex back to the divorce court to try to force him or her to pay you back what you paid the IRS. The other is to see if you qualify for special relief from the IRS. This is commonly called “Innocent Spouse Relief.
The IRS and several states have an option known as Innocent Spouse Relief to help individuals who have found themselves saddled with back tax debts associated with a husband or wife’s filing error. Those who qualify for this plan can avoid paying potentially steep interest and fines. Owing back taxes is stressful enough when they are legitimately your responsibility–but what if you’ve found yourself pursued by tax officials for liabilities, interest, and penalties that aren’t even your fault? This unfortunate scenario sometimes occurs when an inaccuracy is detected in a tax return that was filed jointly by a married couple, or if that tax return was filed correctly but the taxes were never fully paid. If your spouse made an error while performing tax duties or filed dishonestly, you may have a chance at being absolved from accountability via Innocent Spouse Relief. When a husband and wife file their taxes together, the IRS views both parties as equally responsible, regardless of who e
