Hi,

I was wondering if my husban'd taxes could be offset for my student loans? I called the number given to me and my taxes are being offset, but as of now his are not. We wanted to file seperately this year just for this reason. Is it possible that my name as spouse on his 1040 will throw up a red flag and offset his taxes also?

Thanks!

Anything is possible.

How old is the default?? What are you doing about getting it resolved?

The default is a couple of years old. I haven't been able to do anything with it due to many recent medical bills for son. Husband and I both work full time, but still hard to make ends meet.

You do know that they can track your employer via the IRS and your wages can be garnished without a court order???

Tax refund can be taken if you're filing Married Filing Joint WITHOUT an injured spouse claim. If you file Married Filing Separate, his won't be offset as it's your debt.

You can still file jointly, but fill out an Injured Spouse Claim (found on IRS website) for him so he can recover his overpayments of tax.

Also, you mention your son - if you file Married Filing Separate, neither of you will be able to claim the Earned Income Credit for him, nor will you be able to (I believe) claim the Child Tax Credit.

I just spoke with a tax preparation company and they told me that we couldn't file an injured spouse claim because my husband knew I had the loans. Is this correct?

No, that's not correct. They're thinking of an innocent spouse claim. What your husband would need to file is an injured spouse claim. Two different things.

There are some community property states in the US that will take the entire refund regardless of the injured spouse status.

Not to stray too far OT since chances are OP doesn't even live in a community property state, but as far as I know, that's only true for federal tax debts, not SLs. IRS Community Property Injured Spouse Manual

Do you have a reference for that?

My brain is telling me Arizona was one of the states....it has been a long time. I know the issue came up often when I was collecting. For all I know, things have changed.

I just did a little research and it looks like it did change in 98. Procedure is still a little different for CP states and the injured spouse won't necessarily get back everything they would in a non-CP state, but the govt won't be able to seize the entire refund. Enough of that tangent... Unless of course the OP does actually live in a CP state

I live in Florida. I am now trying to decide whether to file jointly or individually. We need money asap for dr. bills we are accumulating with son; however, we also want to get as much back as possible.

Thanks to everyone for all the input!

Can't you just adjust withholdings and solve this problem going into next year?
saladdin