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jrepen · Jun 8, 2009, 11:37 PM

Hello. I finally received my injured spouse forms from the IRS and I'm a bit confused and possibly incredibly angry.

I got married in 2008 and filed a joint return. After waiting 3 weeks for my direct deposit, I was finally informed by the IRS that our entire refund had been offset to pay for my husband's student loan.

1. He accrued this debt years before we were married.
2. He only worked half the year, so the majority of the income was mine.

According to every reference I've seen, I should not be liable for this debt and I should be able to recover my portion of the refund, right?

Now, after waiting 2 months for the Injured Spouse Allocation form to arrie, the trouble I'm having is with Part I, line 9:
"Did you claim a refundable tax credit..."
If "No," I'm not an injured spouse?!

Am I to understand that because I can't afford to have kids, can't afford to take care of my elderly parents, can't afford to go to school, can't afford to save for my retirement, and can't afford to go to the doctor, I'm not eligible to the money I worked for and overpaid to the IRS and now can't afford to pay my bills?

Somebody please tell me I'm reading this wrong before I call the IRS and scream at somebody!

AtlantaTaxExpert · Jun 9, 2009, 09:47 AM

At first glance, it appears that your reading is correct.

However, I would call the IRS and calmly ask them to explain why you cannot fill out the allocation even though you are claiming no credits. Screaming at the IRS representative does no one any good.

mack20007 · Jun 10, 2009, 03:37 AM

Its sad, you're misreading the form and come to an incorrect conclusion.

You stated you worked for wages, and presumable had federal income tax withheld.
If so "BEFORE" you reached line 9, you should have done line 6, which says...

Line 6 - Did you make and report payments, such as federal income tax withholding or estimated tax payments? IF, Yes. Skip lines 7 through 9 and go to Part II and complete the rest of this form.

WHY DO LINED 7-9 WHEN FITW HAS BEEN WITHHELD FROM YOUR PAY WHEN THE FORM SAYS NOT TO ? AND BECAUSE You're MISREADING THE FORM YOU WANT TO CALL AND YELL AT THE IRS.

Take your time and read the form carefully, community prop. Residence usually look at 50% split regardless of who made what however.

Best of Luck

AtlantaTaxExpert · Jun 10, 2009, 07:36 AM

Nice catch, Mack! I reviewed the Form before posting my answer and missed the instructions on Line #6.

jrepen · Jun 11, 2009, 09:21 PM

I was so sure they were going to find a way to further screw me over, I missed that on line 6. Mack, maybe I should have stressed how frustrating it is to have to rely on my returns to pay off my winter bills. Maybe if I had explained that I'm only $2,000 away from qualifying for the EITC and that I've already had my heat turned off once already while waiting for my money which was slated for a direct deposit that never came you would understand why my eyes are crossing in anger. If you had to drive to work every day in a car that might fall apart any minute because you can't afford to fix it, you may be a tad less condescending. I appreciate you pointing out my mistake, but try a little tact. It's nice. So are apostrophes.