Leveraging Joint Liability

Form 8379 in its simplist form is filled out when you as a spouse need relief from being in a joint return. If you got divorced and need your share of the return to payoff past due obligations, form 8379 will help you achieve that. Heres some simple helpful hints to help you prepare your Form 8379

If you are married more than likely you are in a joint type of a tax return for the many benefits couples can get when filing taxes. However the entirety of both your income goes to the total liability you and your spouse share. If you are a spouse that wants your share of the return, there is a process for that and it can be done. An injured Spouse Relief are entitled to their share of the return if and only if they qualify as an injured spouse. Meaning if you got a divorce and are no longer liable for your spouse’s liability, or an understatement that you no longer want to want your portion of overpayment to be used to pay off your spouse’s past due obligations more than likely you are qualified.
However this only applies if the taxpayer that files a 8379, has past due obligation balances including Federal Tax, State Tax, Child Support, and Non Federal Tax (Ex: student loan. Otherwise it may get rejected.

Note; You have at most 3 years from the date of filing the return. After 3 years, its less than likely you can get back any previous return.

from IRS.GOV

The process usually takes about 14 weeks depending if you file it electronically or choose to mail in to the IRS in which in some cases you may have to.

Since you will be changing the return you will also need to fill out a 1040X FORM. This form is required by all forms of amending your tax return so IRS can know that you are wanting to change(amend) your return.

As always, it is very important to talk to a tax professional that can help you plan and process this situation so you can have a bigger gain of knowledge of insights, know your options, and help you take care of the situation with trust, speed, and conformity that it won’t get sent back