The IRS has released updated publications and forms that help divorced and divorcing people understand and deal with these issues:
- income tax filing status
- the right to claim tax exemptions
- how to protect against tax liabilities arising from FOC intercepts of tax refunds on joint returns when, in fact the intercept is for child support arrearages of only one spouse and some of the tax refund belongs to the other spouse.
- how to claim "innocent spouse" relief from liability caused by unreported income by the other spouse are now available.
See, in particular, IRS Publication 504 Divorced or Separated Individuals [For 2013]
Other recently published and/or updated publications or IRS Forms that family lawyers' clients will find helpful and informative are:
Injured Spouse Relief: IRS Form 8379 is filed by one spouse (the injured spouse) on a jointly filed tax return when the joint overpayment expected was applied (offset) to a past-due obligation of the other spouse (e.g., a tax intercept for unpaid child support arrearages. This is how the injured spouse recovers her tax refund. See also the instructions for using Form 8379 here.
IRS Publication 971. How to Claim Innocent Spouse Relief. [Revised February 2011] See this page on the IRS website for other current helpful documents.
Innocent Spouse Relief: IRS Form 8857 is used to request exemption from tax liabilities cause by the under-reporting of income by the other spouse on a joint return filed during the marriage. Download Form 8857 (Jan 2014)
Other recently revised publications of interest to those recently divorced or divorcing are these:
Publication 501: Exemptions, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information Download IRS Publication 501 (exemptions) for 2013
Publication 544: Sales and Other Dispositions of Property, including transfers to spouse, rollovers or retirements accounts Download IRS Publication 544 (2013)
Publication 555: Community Property, including information about how to handle income from separate property [Revised January 2014] Download IRS Publication 555 (2014)
Publication 590: Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs) Download IRS Pub 590 re IRAs
Share this information with your clients or friends by copying and pasting this link into an email:
IRS Resources for Divorced and Divorcing People
When using these forms, do make sure you are using the most current ones. The forms on this blog post were current as of September 23, 2014.
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