Innocent Spouse Relief

Under law a return that is filed as husband and wife makes both parties liable for that return. With this in mind it’s easy to see that if one of you does something funky with the return then you’re both liable for whatever happens with that return. Cases exist where one spouse is not aware of the problems with the return and just agrees to sign the return as is. Later on after audit, or any other problem, the souse realizes that the return is wrong but they had nothing to do with it. What to do? Well, the IRS addresses these situations based on laws that were passed by Congress. More important is that you may not have to even bother with innocent spouse relief if you can prove that you did not intend to file a return, you signed under duress, or your signature was forged. We’ll address the types of innocent spouse relief available, when to select innocent spouse relief, the qualification of each innocent spouse relief section, the form to use, line by line explanation of the form, how to appeal a denial, and Tax Court.