If I remarry and my new husband has unpaid back taxes..........?

Question

would I be responsible for any back taxes that he owes. His identity was stolen four years ago and the IRS claims that he owes for income someone made using his name and SS#. He has tried to explain but they don't want to hear it.
Would the back taxes owed be tranfered to our taxes or possible refund? Also would we have to file a joint return because of the marriage?

Answer 1

First, you will not be held personally responsible for any taxes that were owing prior to your marriage. This can be misleading, any property that you accumulate during your marriage is legally one half his and the IRS can levy his interest. This includes homes, cars, boats, bank accounts with his name, etc. A practical example would be the two of you purchase a home together and you have accumulated $50,000 of equity. The IRS would file a lien and then levy it against your property. You would be forced to either come up with his $25000 share of the equity and pay it to the IRS in cash or you would have to sell the house and give them half of the profit. Your half would still be untouched. Also keep in mind that if they file a lien against him, you will not be able to sell any property that has his name on it without getting a release from the IRS.

If you normally receive refunds on your annual tax returns you should file separate returns. If you file jointly any refund owed on the taxes you have paid will be retained by the IRS and applied to his debt.

There are specific procedures for addressing fraudulent tax debts created by identity thieves. The IRS will forgive the debt if you properly follow their procedural guidelines. You should contact a CPA who specializes in tax law.

Answer 2

Something is fishy here. I've had my SSAN hijacked by an illegal worker twice over the years. On both occasions, it was obvious from the facts at hand that I was not the person who earned the wages and the IRS and SSA quickly adjusted their records. His claim that the IRS "don't want to hear it." doesn't wash!

If you marry this person, the IRS can withhold any tax refunds to satisfy any debt to the IRS. You can ask for innocent spouse protection from the IRS to protect your share of the refund. The IRS uses a fairly complex formula to figure out your share based on your income and how much was withheld from your pay.

You do NOT have to file jointly if married. You can file as married filing separately. It's usually in your best interest to file jointly if married but in this situation you may want to consult with a qualified tax advisor -- a tax attorney or CPA, NOT H&R Block -- to see what your rights and responsibilities are.

If I were in your situation, I'd be considering my options right now. That story about back taxes doesn't wash.

Answer 3

Listen to Katie...but I want to emphasize something she said. Stealing one's identity is very common, especially among illegal immigrants. They steal a SSN to work. Normally, the IRS is very understanding about such matters and waives the income earned by someone else. The fact that you said, "they don't want to hear it" makes me nervous. If he works as a pharmacist in Chicago and the disputed income is of a strawberry picker in California, the IRS understands immediately. Obviously, in this particular situation, it is fraud committed by a stranger. So, I'm thinking there are four possibilities:

1) He waited way too long to contact the IRS to dispute the claim.

2) He didn't try too hard to resolve the issue.

3) The IRS is, all of a sudden, totally unreasonable.

4) The money he owes is legitimate...not from a stolen SSN, but from maybe back child support, income avoidance, tax fraud, or something else.

If I were going to get married and I owed back child support and I didn't want to tell my new fiancée about my past life, I may find it easy to use the excuse that someone stole my SSN and hope she believes me. Obviously, I don't know all the details. All I know is what you said. But, I rarely hear of the IRS not waiving earnings reported to someone from a stolen SSN. It is too easy to prove it isn't your income if it truly isn't your income. You can always request the IRS to provide the disputed W-2 information to see where the income was earned (state, company, name). Please do your own due diligence before becoming involved in a legal wedlock with this person. It may not be romantic to "distrust" him this early on, but if he really isn't being honest with you on this issue, wouldn't you rather know now? What else is he not being honest with you about?

Of course, I could be totally, totally wrong and he is totally legitimate and the IRS is being unreasonable....it is just that normally the IRS isn't totally unreasonable about this type of thing.

If the IRS won't waive the debt, you can file an "Injured Spouse" form with each joint tax return and the IRS may decide to only go after his half of the refund and not touch your half. This is only a petition to the IRS to leave your half alone....the IRS does not have to agree to it....but they usually do. They usually divide the refund in half no matter who earned what.

Good luck!

Answer 4

First for your husbands problem; look up the number for the IRS in your state and have him contact the TAXPAYER ADVOCATE'S OFFICE. The toll free number for the national office is 1-877-777-4778. Each state has a state extension of the same office. He should gather up any and all paperwork he has relating to the problem and copy it so everything can be turned over to the advocate. He might also contact the US Senator and US Representitive for his district and register a complaint. The problem can be fixed.

Now for the filing status, the IRS will take your refund from a married filing joint return unless you sign and include with your return a Form 8370; Injured Spouse Allocation; which prevents them from touching your refund for your husband's debt. If you don't want to file a married, filing joint return then you can file as married, filing seperate. Your choice.

I urge you to have your husband get with the TAXPAYER ADVOCATE asap and resolve this problem. It is one they have seen before and will see again and they can take care of it. Good luck.

Answer 5

All the other stuff people are telling you aside. You wont be responsible. And to protect you portion of the return in future years file a Injured Spouse form (Does NOT mean PHYSICALLY INJURED BUT means INJURED TAX WISE). This basically sepeate your two portions of a tax return.

Answer 6

If you file jointly they would withhold any returns you may get. file marfried but seperatly. have you contacted a tax attorney to see if he can settle what he owes for less. my dad did that and settled for pennies on the dollar.