Taxes?

[crazycrew77]

I filed myself even though I am married, they were all my debts long before I met my husband.
Can we file a different way so they do not take his refund?

[HHM]

So "who" won't take his refund?

[crazycrew77]

the IRS.
He is employed not me and I feel it would not be fair if they took the refund since the debt isonly mine from years ago

[HHM]

Ok, so let's clarify the situation.

You filed BK?
You have some old tax debt? Was the tax dischargeable in BK?
You are getting ready to file your taxes and are wondering how you should file those taxes to maximize any refund, correct?

[katie]

I think I understand what you are asking. If you file jointly, they can and will (unless your old tax debt was over the statute and discharged in BK) apply any refunds you are entitled to to any outstanding tax liability. You can file married filing seperately and therefore you each would be liable or entitled to whatever your outcome is. Sometimes, though, this can lower the amount of refund you would be getting back, but sometimes it can increase that amount. Your tax advisor would just have to run the numbers for you to see. Whatever tax software they use should easily be able to run this calculation.

Does this help?

[crazycrew77]

Ok, so let's clarify the situation.

You filed BK?
You have some old tax debt? Was the tax dischargeable in BK?
You are getting ready to file your taxes and are wondering how you should file those taxes to maximize any refund, correct?

I filed last year but I received a letter stating a paper was not filed...so it is not discharged yet..
None of it was my husbands debt at all. I filed on my own..
No tax debt is involved.
I do not want the IRS to take his refund.

[Mark80]

You can file seperately, and if you do the IRS cannot come after your husbands refund if all of the debt is solely your own.

[JoeBankrupt33]

If this is not tax debt, child support, student loans, the IRS shouldn't touch it, and you can file married, which is almost always better than filing separately.

If you are still concerned about the IRS taking this money, you can file a form 8379 for what's called "Injured Spouse" relief. You should definitely look into this. Don't confuse this with "Innocent Spouse" relief, which is where you state that your spouse made an error with taxes that you should not be liable for.

AND - DO NOT DO THIS WITH H&R BLOCK, JACKSON HEWITT, LIBERTY TAX - it's an easy form, but they'll charge you about $100 for this form alone.

[JoeBankrupt33]

More info. I forgot to post. TaxAct handles this form, and it is a super cheap program. I've been using TaxAct since 2000, and I recommend it to everyone. I personally hate the national chains, but I am very frugal and won't even spend my money on TurboTax cause it costs too much. I did buy TT once, but then I did my taxes for free with TaxAct and found that it covered everything I needed. Plus, my returns haven't been the easiest - I've had regular employment, self employment, rental income, and more.

[crazycrew77]

If this is not tax debt, child support, student loans, the IRS shouldn't touch it, and you can file married, which is almost always better than filing separately.

If you are still concerned about the IRS taking this money, you can file a form 8379 for what's called "Injured Spouse" relief. You should definitely look into this. Don't confuse this with "Innocent Spouse" relief, which is where you state that your spouse made an error with taxes that you should not be liable for.

AND - DO NOT DO THIS WITH H&R BLOCK, JACKSON HEWITT, LIBERTY TAX - it's an easy form, but they'll charge you about $100 for this form alone.

Can I do this with Turbo Tax?

[crazycrew77]

??

[2Bshinyandnew]

I filed last year but I received a letter stating a paper was not filed...so it is not discharged yet..
None of it was my husbands debt at all. I filed on my own..
No tax debt is involved.
I do not want the IRS to take his refund.

I'm not sure I understand...why would the IRS take the joint refund if no tax debt was involved? Do you mean you don't want the Bankruptcy Trustee to take the refund?

[crazycrew77]

Someone told me if we get a tax refund the trustee will take the refund. It was my debt way before I ever met my husband.

[2Bshinyandnew]

Someone told me if we get a tax refund the trustee will take the refund. It was my debt way before I ever met my husband.

Ah, OK. I understand now. When you filed BK, did you do anything to try and exempt your refund?

If the trustee were to take your refund, I think I read that the trustee it could only get prorated portion of it, based how much of the refund was generated by the efforts and contribution of your husband. A joint refund is a jointly titled "asset" and depending on your states laws, assets that are titled jointly may be exempt, or a portion may be exempt. Do you have an attorney?

[crazycrew77]

I am a stay at home mom to my four children, my husband works 39 hours per week.No one ever told me about the exempt thing, my lawyer sure did not, I have had nothing but problems with this lawyer, never answers my questions.

I still have no idea what the court is doing with the motion he filed about the missing certificate which I took the classes..the lawyers mistake..