Paying of tax is never an enjoyable process, and for this reason, the majority of people are eager to take on any tax deduction opportunities. This involves couples who opt for Married Filing Jointly. When a couple files for a married filing jointly status, they record their individual incomes together on a shared tax return. While married filing jointly presents some advantages, it also has its disadvantage which is Joint and Several Liability. This happens when the couple with the married filing jointly are equally held accountable for all things concerning their taxes, this include liabilities.
If you or a person you know opted for the Married Filing Jointly status and due to unfavorable circumstances, want to get out of the status, this article will provide you with the right way to go about it and also information on the best tax attorney Atlanta.
What does innocent spouse relief mean?
Firstly, the term Innocent Spouse refers to a person whose spouse carry out improper actions relating to the tax payment such as refusing to report incomes, not reporting incomes regularly or wrongly reporting incomes. This means the spouse is the person at fault and the other party can be spared from any penalties.
Despite being innocent of your spouse or former spouse’s actions, you might not be considered an innocent spouse. In order to become an innocent spouse though, there is a process to be followed. Firstly, it is important to file a joint return which contains information on the income your spouse failed to include in the return. You must also present proof that at that time when you honored the return with your signature, you were unaware that your spouse did not record their total income. With all of these provided, the government will see no reason to hold you accountable for your spouse’s actions.
Who is an injured spouse?
The IRS has the authority to retrieve a total refund from a couple’s joint tax. This can happen if both couples are responsible for the understatement or even if it is just one couple. When it happens that the IRS retrieve the refund from the joint tax return when only was party was responsible for the debt, the other party is often referred to as the Injured Couple.
Just as it is with the innocent spouse, in order to be considered an injured spouse, you need to tie some loose ends. That is, ensure you pay off the federal income tax so you will have no obligation to cover the debt of your guilty spouse.
Injured Spouse and Innocent Spouse Rules and Penalties
A married filing jointly combines you and your spouse’s tax responsibilities. After it has been filed, the IRS will not collect tax based on the individual income of the couple. The IRS also has the right to collect your funds in order to pay up some of your financial responsibilities, even if just one couple is guilty of the debt.
When the IRS wants to take a refund from your joint tax return to pay up debt, they sent a Notice of Offset to your home address first. This gives you the opportunity as an injured or innocent spouse to make the appeal. After this, the IRS takes about 3 months to give a response. When you receive this mail from the IRS as an injured spouse, it is advisable that you reach out to a tax attorney Atlanta to begin the filing. For innocent spouses, it is even more important to contact a tax lawyer Atlanta as soon as possible as the case is more complicated than with injured spouses. After the tax return has been completed, the return will include penalties under perjury. Often time the innocence can be hard to prove. As long as you have signed the return, even if you indeed are innocent of the understatements done by your spouse, the IRS treats this situation as fraud.
Explaining further into how seriously the IRS takes tax understatements when you and your spouse are suspected of understatements, the IRS will carry out an audit on you. This involves a thorough check of your financial documents to confirm that you report all your incomes correctly. The IRS will also spend as much time necessary to go through your records. If it is revealed that there are cases of understatements, then there will be penalties.
One of the reasons why it is vital that you reach out to a tax attorney in time is to prevent you from imposed fees. If your spouse is found guilty of understatement, the penalty often involves a refund from your account. Sometimes fines are added to this, and these fines can go up to a 100,000 dollars. Lastly, based on the fact that understatements are considered to be an act of fraud, criminal charges can be made against you. The time for this is 2 to 5 years imprisonment.
Hiring a tax attorney for innocent spouse relief and injured spouse
Some of the importance of hiring an attorney when facing the IRS as an innocent or injured spouse include:
Guidance
As an injured or innocent spouse, the chances are that you never thought you would find yourself in such a situation and now that you have, you have no idea on how to go about it. Taking actions without help from legal professionals might cause more damage than good. When you hire a tax attorney, they can review and properly explain the situation to you, present you with your options and hold your hand throughout the filing. When you have proper guidance, the process is faster and much easier.
Avoid losing your property to penalties
As an innocent spouse, you can avoid losing your money or properties to IRS penalties. This is because at that point in time you were unaware of your partner’s understatements. Hiring an attorney can help you ensure that your filing is done properly in order to correctly appeal to the IRS to refrain from also seizing your money. Without the aid of an attorney, you might be unable to properly explain your actions to the IRS which in turn might cause your plea to be ignored.
Proper representation
For all things, legal, proper representation is very important. You need an experienced and skilled attorney to represent you when dealing with the IRS. If there is to be an investigation being carried out by the IRS concerning understatement, you also need an attorney to protect your interests in order to avoid any form of harassment. A good attorney can also present your strongest case to advocate for you.
If you reside in Atlanta and you are an innocent spouse or an injured spouse, then you should reach out to a tax attorney Atlanta immediately.
Cumberland Law Group is an accredited law firm which also deals with tax relief. The firm has years of experience, helping hundreds of clients settle IRS tax issues. For innocent spouse relief or injured spouse, Cumberland Law Group is available to represent your case. For more information you can call – 678 385 5953 – or you can visit www.cumberlandlawatlanta.com. Contact us today!
