My WH and I have just recently filed our 2003 and 2004 joint taxes. We did not live together during those years and I was not very involved in the paperwork. We reconciled for 2005, but know he is out of the home again preparing for divorce.

Apparently, I did not sign the 2003-2004 return. I have received a letter stating that they need our signatures. I am a SAHM who works 1 day a week, my taxes are taken out of my check. WH is self employed and owes a ton of $$ in taxes.

I do not feel at all comfortable signing these tax returns given the current state of our relationship. When we filed together, it was under the impression that we would be together. I feel I should not sign an IOU to uncle sam for a bill that I cannot pay and that is not for my income.

Should I file a return "married but seperately" for those two years? I will probably have penalties for being late, but my income is less than $6k a year.

WH would be irate, I guess it will bump is tax bill up if he does not have me as a dependant. This is not at all for retaliation of being a woman scorned, just being a woman that can't afford a tax bill of my WH when he seems very unreliable right now.

Any advice is appreciated. Our BIL is an accountant who typically does our taxes, but I am not comfortable discuusing this with him right now since he is WH's best friend.

Since the taxes are already considered filed, you can not alter the filing status.

Even if you file an amended return, the filing status still can't be changed.

Sorry.

Sadly, all debts incurred during the marriage, are joint responsibility. If your H defaults, they can still come to you for the debt.

I know this isn't what you want to hear, and sadly a horrible injustice.

Thanks, I need to know the facts not what I consider fair.

But I never signed the return, does that make a difference?

You need a tax advisor. I'd research innocent spouse tax protection to see what you can find. I googled those words and this was one of the links
http://www.taxfables.com/Columns/Marriage/More_Protection.html

T

I may disagree with betrayed...I don't see her stating this was an amended return. She never signed the original returns and they were filed late. I am a tax attorney, not an accountant...this is primarily an accounting question first. He can not make her sign a joint return so this issue needs to be explored fully.

However, if WH fails to pay the taxes and you sign a joint return for 2003 and 2004 then you will be on the hook with WH for the back taxes, penalties and interest (that will keep accruing until paid).

Questions -- How much back taxes does he owe? Whose name is the house in (seems like you posted elsewhere it is in your name? What assets does WH have that IRS could levy? In fact, if he can't pay them it may behoove you to file separately. That way you get to keep the house that is in your name and the IRS will look only to him for payment. He can make an offer in compromise based on himself as an individual with no assets.

I'll await more info before discussing further.

W

If unsigned, they are not officially "filed."

You could consider filing "married/separate" for those two years, however it would probably infuriate your husband because it may invalidate many deductions and exemptions he was planning on taking.

If you earned less than $6K -- you probably don't even have a tax liability -- your standard deduction and exemption would wipe out your income and you would owe nothing in taxes, plus you would get a refund of anything you paid in withholding.

Your husband on the other hand would not be able to itemize if you don't itemize. Plus losing you as a dependent. It would affect his situation substantially I would guess.

It is certainly your option though. I would get a copy of those documents from your BIL. I could ask you more specific questions to get a better picture of the situation.

I believe he owes about $14K. The house is in both of our names. There are really no marital assets. I am a SAHM and he is your basic blue collar worker (self employed) There is little if any equity in the house.

The only reason I considered NOT signing the form the IRS sent is he has threatened a few times to just run away. I do not think he would do that, but I am having trouble wading through the WH fog to make rational decisions.

It is just a fluke that the tax returns didn't get signed. We filed on 8/15 and D-day was 8/23. He moved out on 9/16 and has not been giving me $$ for groceries.

So, since I never signed the joint returns, can I file separate returns? The late penalty would surely be less than the 14K he owes, considering my income is 6k a year and taxes were taken out of my check.

The innocent spouse defense reads as if meant to protect the spouse who had no idea what she was signing but in practicality it rarely protects the SAHM. It helps in fraud situations but nobody is claiming fraud here they are just late and did not pay.

More likely this defense will be unsuccesful for Jean36. She's an adult that should have known that tax returns needed to be filed and paid each year. Plus she benefited from the income represented on the returns. IMO and on the information presented herein, the IRS will not refrain from going after her assets for their joint obligations IF SHE SIGNS A JOINT RETURN. Jean's best opportunity is to take the returns to an independent accountant for a consultation. I believe her theory about filing separately may be the only way to go if she fears at all or knows WH will not be paying the obligation completely himself.

W

No late penalties for you if you don't owe taxes.
In fact, based on the small amount of information here, I suspect you would be due a refund.

This all really depends on your husbands income, whether or not he made any quarterly payments or did withholding, what business deductions he is entitled to. I assume he files a Schedule C for small business?

I am a CPA and actively practice in the area of taxation. Your situation comes up all too often. If you were my client this is what I would advise. Do not under any circumstances sign the joint returns. I would prepare an original return with a marital status of Married filing seperately and submit to the IRS with an explanation of your situation. Techinically, if you knew that the returns were filed even without a proper signature, the ommission of a signature does not necessarily mean that a proper return was not filed timely. However, since you did not sign the original return, you can take the position that although you failed to file your return with MFS status that your WH filed a joint return even though you did not agree with that filing status, therefore filing an original return with the correct filing status is correct as opposed to an amended return with a different filing status.

Mr. Wonderings is correct on his options regarding back taxes and others have brought up the issue of innocent spouse rules. If we are only talking about 2003 and 2004 and no other taxes are owed, then trying to make sure that any additional taxes are not assessed against you is the best plan of attack. If you reconcile with WH, then your situation is the same as it would have been if you had filed jointly except that you would have paid slightly more taxes between the two of you and you would not have personal liability.

The innocent or injured spouse rules are to protect one spouse from anothers tax liability. For example, a spouse takes a large withdrawal from a 401K or another who owes back child support and the tax refund would be seized.

Not applicable in Jean's case, IMO.

Jean, do you have copies of the 2003 and 2004 returns?

Yes, I have the returns. I rec'd the letter from the IRS informing me that they had not been signed a week or two ago.

2003-2004, we did not live together, but we were not divorced and we agreed to file together, he just never got around to it. He finally got his info together and he and BIL prepared the taxes. We just completely forgot to sign them, a complete fluke. D-day and the threats came a week or two later and then I get the letter from the IRS.

I am really not trying to be vindictive, but I just don't have a lot of faith that he will stick around to pay the tax bill.

The innocent spouse rules can be applied in Jean's case because it is her husbands self employment that gives rise to the tax liability. However, it is a much easier road to just not have personal liability for the tax in the first place instead of trying to make the IS rules apply to her case.

he files a Sch C, the only real business deduction is mileage and maybe a tad of equipment depreciation. He has made no quarterly tax payments in the two years. On the 2002 taxes, he filed at the end of that year, then made a few payments until it was paid. He has not paid anything for 2003-2004.

It would seem that the joint return would not be valid since I never signed it, and that filing separate should not cause too much trouble for me. But I surely do not want to get in to trouble with Uncle Sam at this point.

Jean:

File a MFS return as an original and attach an explanation to the return why the 2003 is being filed late. If you get any correspondence from the IRS post on here and I will give you my email address and advise on next step.

What is my reason for why it is being filed late. It is being filed late because my [censored] H procratinates and he waited so long to file his taxes, he got busted on something else.

How do I put that in IRS lingo?

Right on - Lexxxy,

WH will be motivated to reduce the obligation. Thus when you consult with your advisor you may end up all getting together (probably just BIL and your advisor) to negotiate a way out of this. You may end up signing a joint return anyway to save Tax Dollars but it will cost WH. I do not advise you accept an IOU from WH rather he must beg, borrow and steal to get it paid off now or you won't sign which in the end will cost him even more money.

W

In your explanation explain that you are going through marital issues and you had an agreement with your husband that he would take care of filing the tax returns for both of you. He failed to do this because he was a louse (at least at that time). Attaching this explanation to the return makes it part of your return and allows us to claim that it was fully disclosed on the original return. The explanation does not have to be in IRSspeak, just a statement of the facts. Unfortunately, most of the return is now processed by machine and the explanations rarely get entered into the system. If you owe tax with your MFS return, they will automatically assess a late filing and late payment penalty. You can respond to that notice asking them to abate the penalty for reasonable cause. If you have a refund on your return, there will be no penalty.

So what I am hearing all of you say:

Do NOT sign the joint tax return. Prepare a MFS return, but do not file it yet. Once I have my $$ figures, I will have the info I need for Divorce bargaining. Do not accept him saying if I file jointly, he will pay it, make him borrow the money to pay it now.

Since we are already so late on the filing, another month won't really matter (at least to me since I probably don't have a MFS tax bill-correct?) He is the one racking up late fees. And as long as I don't sign the MFJ return, I am not liable for it yet.

Is that correct?