"John D. Goulden" <jgoulden[at]okcu.edu> wrote:

- quote -

In this scenario, the concept of ~INJURED SPOUSE~ is in
play, form-8379 should be completed each year to delineate
the NEW husbands proportion of income tax liability &
prepayment to determine ~HIS~ share of the joint refund, if
the tax planning is done correctly on Responsible spouses
income & withholdings she will be entitled to little or no
refund of which can be offset to her EX-HUSBANDS tax account
for which one or more years she is jointly & severally
liable.

Once the determination is made, a MANUAL refund check is cut
to the NEW HUSBAND solely, if there is still a net credit
due, that would be offset to the other liability.

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John D. Goulden wrote:

- quote -

Second spouse: now is when innocent spouse rule comes in.
file the IS form with the 1040.

Missy Doyle

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John D. Goulden wrote:

- quote -

Same answer as before, adjust withholding appropriately.
And yes they can.

ChEAr$,
Harlan Lunsford, EA n LA

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John D. Goulden wrote:

- quote -

Reducing his withholding is one possibility, as is filing
separate returns. Another possibility is for the new husband
to file as "injured spouse", to protect any refund based
solely on his income. Injured Spouse relief is for such
situations where one spouse comes into the marriage with
"tax issue baggage". Note: this is different from "innocent
spouse" relief discussed earlier.

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"John D. Goulden" <jgoulden[at]okcu.edu> wrote:

- quote -

No. He will be eligible for "injured" (not innocent) spouse
relief. See the 1040 instructions.

--
Phil Marti
Clarksburg, MD

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John D. Goulden wrote:

- quote -

New spouse would qualify as an "Injured Spouse" . Filing
this form with their joint tax return should shelter the
refund of the new spouse.

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In an earlier post (dated 9/7/2006) I asked about a
situation in which a divorced individual's refund was
retained by the IRS as partial payment on a previous tax
debt that the ex-husband was currently repaying. The
responses were pretty much uniform; she doesn't qualify for
"innocent spouse" protection and the IRS did what the fine
print said they'd do. The taxpayer has of course adjusted
her withholding down so she won't get refunds in the future
until that tax bill is payed off by her ex.

Now, to further muddy the water: say that individual
remarries and files a joint return with her new spouse. We
assume that the new spouse has no back tax issues. If a
refund is due to the new couple due to taxes withheld from
HIS earned income, will THAT refund be taken by the IRS as
well? If so, what should the couple do to prepare for this?
Reduce his withholding to avoid getting a refund? File
separate returns (not so good as he has plenty to itemize
but she does not)? Other suggestions?

--
John D. Goulden

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