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Im livid. I setled the divorce with taking all the debt if I could keep all the taxes which was mine anyway, he had NO income... well today i found in my mail all my refund went to his back child support (for his child from another marriage). More than livid. tax guy says you are lucky if you get half back and it will be about 6 months

wtf. wtf wtf.
well there goes the lawyer money, the bill pay offs etc. im fucked.

my lawyer knows. he said, good luck finding him to get the money. we can do a judgement against him tho cause we specifically addressed his debts and he was responsible for all and if not, maintenance can be awarded to pay those debts off. BUT if you dont have money you cant pay bills nor will we ever be able to find his ass. not that I really want to.

I thought it was all done at divorce. I was to have the money this week to pay off the debt and start over. Nope.

my life has been going wonderfully in all other areas and this just threw a f'n wrench in it all.

[This message edited by lifestoshort at 11:11 AM, March 20th (Thursday)]

That's one of the worst things I ever heard.

You may want to consult a tax attorney who knows about these things. I'm a Canadian accountant, and a spouses refund would never be garnished, let alone an XS.

Goof luck, hugs and a beer to you.

PS- never believe the person on the other end of the tax line. Typically, they are low level temps who have no real idea what they're talking about, just a screen in front of them.

eta: added more advice.

[This message edited by cvs2kkids at 11:37 AM, March 20th (Thursday)]

I am so sorry! WTF, Are you divorced? Did you file separate? How does that happen if you no longer married?

You filed joint, didn't you? If you are separated for 6 months, the IRS will allow you to file separately as Head of Household as long as you have the children. This gets you pretty much the same deduction as married filing joint and a larger deduction than married filing separately. All you have to do is check the box that you've been separated 6 months or longer. If you don't have children together, you would need to file as married filing separately. You can still check that you are separated so that there is no question as to why you changed your status.

Even if you are not divorced by next year, you need to not file jointly or the same thing will happen. As long as his name is on the tax return, the IRS will scan his social and send any refund out for back child support regardless of what the court said.

[This message edited by Tearsoflove at 1:15 PM, March 20th (Thursday)]

i filed joint. it was the only way to get a refund. because I had kids to claim I got a refund. had I filed single I would have paid in alot. we had only been seperated 4 months so I could not do head of house :/
the agreement was if i filed w him, I would get all the money. BUT ofcourse the damn child support people took it all. Not for my child. for his. ugh.

i talked to my tax guy, he is filing some injured spouse paperwork and it will take 6 months to get any money back. probably only half since hes can get half... BUT per court agreement, I would need to get all to pay off our bills. so either way, the asshole is going to court over this.

[This message edited by lifestoshort at 2:11 PM, March 20th (Thursday)]

Sorry...editing. I didn't see that you couldn't file head of household because it was only 4 months.

I filed head of household and had to pay all our back IRS taxes out of my refund the first year since my name was on the debt too. We split the debt in the divorce paperwork, but of course the IRS doesn't see that. I was fine just to have the debt cleared and this year I was able to keep it all.

[This message edited by tabitha95 at 2:27 PM, March 20th (Thursday)]

It can be corrected by submitting a form 8379, an injured spouse allocation form. You can still file jointly but the irs will give the injured spouse back all of their taxes that they would have received. Pm me if you want to know how.

I realize this is too late to help you this year, but for future reference and/or those who haven't filed yet this year, is it possible to send along with your return a copy of the divorce decree that spells out how the tax situation is supposed to be handled? I'm just wondering out loud...

Just adding that most states also accept this form also. You can go back 3 years to collect money taken from you joint refund.

the thing is, per court I am to get ALL the taxes back. but IRS doesnt give a tooty. so I think he will get half towards the damn child support. per divorce settlement, any debt he has, he must pay me back for. so then maintenance would be in effect till he paid me off. the issue is, we will never get the money cause VA wont send it. he will have to send me checks.
as it was, time of divorce, he was $1500 in arrears for maintenance, which I had planned to use for bills plus the taxes to make this all a wash.

so right now, im gunna pay his medical, his clothing and housing costs (on my charge card) his child support and divorce fees against him. biggest mistake of my life.

LTS the "innocent spouse" rule applies to you. You need to have your tax preparer file for this. You will have to show documentation that ALL of the money should be yours since he did not work. It will take a minimum of 6 months but eventually you will get your refund and a small amount of interest (that you will have to claim on this years taxes). It is a drawn out and frustrating process but you will get your refund and the IRS will put a levy on HIS social security number.

That being said.... Ladies and gentlemen this is why when your are separated or newly divorced you NEVER file jointly! Sometimes it is simply better to bite the bullet and struggle for a little while than to have an entire refund go to an attorney general for past due support.

LTS I am sorry that this happened to you. The tax preparer should have questioned you about this and explained that if your ex was behind on CS then the refund could be taken.

honestly I did not even think of it either. I had planned to file seperate until I had to pay in and the tax guy said I would get thousands if I went with him and just have him sign over the full amount.

previous poster, do I send in my divorce paperwork with the injured spouse info?? he already electronically filed it.

would you happen to know where I send it to? or whom? i can make copies and get them out this week.

IRS called. ammended return. will take 3 months but both returns took for the back child support. they will abide by the divorce paperwork which says I get all the tax return. yay. just gotta wait.

I'm glad you followed through. Yep, waiting sucks, but getting it in 3 months beats not getting it at all.

i got all the money now. took 2 months. every cent went to pay towards debt incurred from being w him. fun.

Yeah!!! Lifestoshort.

Fantastic!!!

Ladies and gentlemen this is why when your are separated or newly divorced you NEVER file jointly!

AMEN! I always scream this when I read people considering filing joint. These WS's can not be trusted, what makes anyone think they can be trusted with a refund?