More frequently asked questions regarding the Economic Stimulus Payment (Rebate): What if my spouse owes money? What will happen to our stimulus payment? Will the IRS keep it all even though part of that money is for me and my children?
The IRS Will Keep Your Money
The IRS can keep your stimulus money (and tax refund) if you owe money to the government. The IRS will shoot first and ask questions later. So if your spouse owes money to the government and you file jointly, the IRS can/will take out the money it's owed before sending your refund or payment.
Keep this in mind if you are married filing jointly. The IRS can claim the tax return and economic stimulus payments to pay off government debts and child support. The government debts include back taxes, student loans and even state taxes. The IRS will take out money for back child support.
The IRS will only take out the money if your are behind or past due. So if you are paying on your student loans and you are current (up to date) on the payments, you have nothing to worry about. Also if you are making child support payments the IRS won't take your money. Again, the IRS will only claim your money if you are past due or if you owe back taxes.
My Spouse Owes the Debt Not Me
The IRS has a special form for this: Form 8379 – Injured Spouse Allocation. The government recognizes that your spouse my owe the money, not you. In this case you can apply for the injured spouse allocation. Essentially, it lets you get back your money from the IRS. However, getting the money back can take some time.
Will the IRS Let Me Know if They Took My Money?
Yes. You should receive a letter from the IRS detailing the amount that was deducted and why. See the quote from the IRS web site below.
What About Child Support?
Please see my previous article on the stimulus package, taxes and child support for information. You can also check out this article on the stimulus payment from the US Government's Office of Child Support Enforcement.
What the IRS Says
Here are some questions and answers from the IRS stimulus payment site. I've reproduced them here as the IRS stimulus site is changing constantly.
Tags Economic Stimulus Government IRS Stimulus Payment Tax Return TaxesQ. How will I be notified if my stimulus payment was used to offset an outstanding debt?
A. If this occurs, you will receive a letter explaining how the stimulus payment was applied. [New 4/11/08]
Q. I am filing a joint tax return with my spouse who has a past-due obligation. How can I ensure that I still get my share of our joint stimulus payment?
A. In this situation, you are considered an injured spouse. To get your share of a joint income-tax refund, as well as your share of the stimulus payment, you can file Form 8379, Injured Spouse Allocation. You will get your share of these payments, and your spouse’s share will be applied to his or her past-due federal or state income taxes or non-tax federal debt such as student loans and child support. Your allocation request will be processed more quickly if you attach Form 8379 to your regular 2007 federal income tax return. [New 3/25/08]
Q. How will the IRS treat a stimulus payment when there is an innocent spouse involved?
A. An innocent spouse determination for a 2007 income tax return would follow the filing of the return. In most instances, the stimulus payment will be issued before such a claim is filed and before a determination can be made. [New 4/14/08]
Related Posts
- Economic Stimulus Payment – Child Support Questions
- Divorced and Stimulus Payment Check Made Out to Both of Us
- Where Is My Stimulus Payment?
- Week In Review – May 31, 2008
- IRS Stimulus Payment Rebate Calculator
Comments
52 Comments so far
HI, We owe the IRS FOR THIS YEAR OF 1.900
Will they put our stimulus check towards
what we owe,and when will that happen,I sent
a payment in before April 15th,I just recieved a letter on my balance, But i did'nt
see where they are deducting the stimulus amt.
Can you help me on this matter.
Thank you,
Donna
Donna,
If you owe money, the IRS will eventually send you a letter telling you they applied your stimulus payment to the debt.
the stimulus cks were put out to HELP
people,regardless if they owe back taxes
and are current on their payments the IRS
should NOT have taken our stimulus ck
and put it towards our taxes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I thought this was for EVERYONE I have been through a divorce and owe taxes and just got laid off–the money sure would help me out right now… This is sad.
I received a letter saying that I was receiving a Stimulus check by 06/06/08. I didn't think I would get anything because I owe. Does this mean I would really get a check or this was an error?
Tracy,
What do you owe?
I owe $1,400 I have until June 30th to pay it.
Can I get my money back? We had to pay in but I still filed injured spouse. If so who do I need to contact?
Any feed back
Tracy,
If you owe the government money (student loans or taxes) they WILL take that money out of your check. You may have gotten a letter but I doubt you're going to get your payment.
I've heard of rare cases of people still getting their money but I would expect the IRS to hold your payment.
The up side is that part of your debt is getting paid off. I know it's not as nice as having cash in your hand, but it will have to do.
Good Luck!
Thank you!
My husband owed back taxes prior to us getting married, and I did not file injured spouse. We got a letter stating that our stimulus payment was on the way, but the state of Missouri withheld it to offset debt. I was told that once you owe back taxes, they give you 80 days to repay. If it is not paid in full, they file papers that allow for all payments to be withheld until they are paid off. We still owe $806 even after they applied the stimulus payment. It sucks that they were able to keep it, but it least alot of the debt is paid down. We will make payments to the State of Missouri until it is paid off. I REFUSE to ever let them take our money again! I love being married, but I don't love the debt that I inherited.
I claimed my daughter (in college, living with me) and an adult friend that fell on hard times (my ex is a CPA and he knew I could claim this friend as a dependent), also living with me in 2006 and 2007. I filed HOH, both years, last year I got a statement, saying I owed money because of problems with both of their middle initial vs names. I meet the legal IRS requirements to claim both of them.
It took a few long calls, but I got it straightened out and both dependents, even though no one at the IRS knew this. I had to wait on the phone, forever, while they checked. I even had one IRS worker tell me outright I could not claim an unrelated adult.
It is so frustrating when the people working for the IRS don't even know the tax laws. That's probably why I keep getting these letters that I owe them money in the first place. I have cancer and Lupus and I don't need all this stress, because they don't know how to do their jobs properly.
I got two letters today, one saying my stimulus payment was on the way. They other saying I owed the IRS money, about the same amount they wanted for 2006, for 2007.
Last year, the letter said I owed the money, because they had changed my HOH status and disallowed my dependents. This time there was no explanation, at all why they wanted me to pay these taxes.
I am so confused.
Connie,
I wasn't aware that you could claim an unrelated adult. I'm certainly not a CPA.
If I were you I would get a second opinion from a CPA or other tax professional. You don't want this issue to drag on. If it's causing you stress, get it taken care of sooner rather than later. You DON'T want problems with the IRS, life's way too short for that.
Good Luck!
The IRS employees, told me this was acceptable after checking on it, twice, two separate IRS employees, on two separate occurrences on the phone. You can't get any more professional than that. After checking on, is the key, these two employee's kept me on hold for quite some time, while they found the information and verified I could indeed claim the unrelated adult as a dependent.
My feeling is the employee that was responsible for issuing the notice that I owe them money, did not even check, they presumed they knew the law.
As long as you provide more than half of the financial needs and the person lives with you for 6 months or more, you may legally claim them as a dependent, however, you will probably have the same repeating nightmare I am over it.
As an added note, I barely squeak by, financially, however, I can not in good conscience, throw this person out. This person did not even make enough money to be required to file taxes, has no where else to live and would not have food to eat. I provide bare bones, place to live and food, sometimes money for gas and the use of my car. Still it is much more than half of what this person takes care of, probably 85 to 95%.
The IRS took all of our 2007 income tax refund due to my husbands student loan status.
They also kept all of our stimulus rebate. We have now found out that we can file form 8379 for my portion of the income tax refund. Do I have to file anything for my portion of the stimulus?
barb,
From 8379 (injured spouse) will also cover your stimulus payment.
Ok i am so confused about the stimulus payment. We have always filed an injured spouse form with taxes and even asked the IRS this year if would be better off just having dh file as i do not work and have not for nearly ten years. We lost our house in 05 and filed ch 13 included the student loan that was only 3k when i took it out but is nearly at 10k now. I realize they do not allow you to add to a ch13 or ch 7 which i think is stupid it was very obvious the debt is not going to be paid when i could not even keep our home.
ANYWAY today we get a letter saying that we are getting the FULL amount??? BUT we did not and there is nothing that has arrived saying anything about the offset going to the Student loan which i know that is where it had to go as that is the only thing out there.
Is this just a nasty glitch they have ?? Letters go out with full amount but you really only get partial and they will inform you of the partial payment months down the road or something??
When i check online my refund info can not be found when i call i get recording that says they can not find info??
You should get a notice from the IRS stating that they are claiming all or part of your stimulus payment and why.
ok thanks
guess just the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing lol
so far only letter that has arrived is one stating the full amount should be received in 6 weeks from the date of the letter
which is the same date they deposited half into checking account
My husband is the only one working in our household, and I owe for defaulted student loans. He filed form 8379 with our taxes, and got back his money. (My loans are now in the process of being rehabilitated, and all my payments are being made as agreed.)
We assumed that since we filed the injured spouse form with our tax return, that we wouldn't have to file an additional form for the stimulus. To our surprise, we received a notice of offset for the entire balance of the stimulus payment. So, we sent a copy of form 8379 to the IRS hoping that we could at least get some of the money.
Is it still possible that we may receive part of the stimulus? Our check was to be mailed out in early July, but instead we received the offset notice. My husband tried calling the IRS, but was on hold for hours. Any ideas/advice?
Angela,
form 8379 should cover the stimulus payment also. Keep in mind that the IRS has to send this back to you. So it makes sense that they would keep the initial amount.
I would contact the IRS to verify this information. Once the stimulus payment activity dies down, you should be able to reach them. You might also try your local office.
Anyone filing injured spouse and not getting your half of the stimulus needs to call the 1-800 # and demand an investigation. I finally did after the 4th call to them and found out that they gave it all to my husbands ex as my injured spouse was never processed for the stimulus payment. They told me it would take 45 days to investigate why it was never applied to the stimulus but it was processed for my tax refund. By the way the first 3 calls I just kept getting told to wait 30 days for it to arrive. Finally someone looked deeper and found the reason I didnt get my half! CALL CALL CALL and keep calling! Of course I was told if I dont hear anything from them by mid Sept to call back again. VERY FRUSTATED!!!!
ok i am retired and only have ss coming in.
me and my wife who does not work due to medical conditions filled this year for the stimulus payment.ok we got a letter finaly saying they had taken all the 600.00 for a student loan my wife had.keep in mind she made the loan before we were married or even knowed each other.i filled the injured spouse form to get my half back.my question is. how long does it take to hear from irs about a injured spouse claim?
William,
I don't know exactly how long it will take to hear from the IRS. It could take a while (more than 12 weeks).
Also you'll only get $300 not the full amount as the other half will go towards your wife's student loan.
Just to be sure … I am retired, living abroad, and have only social security income. My wife does not have any earned income but only receives social security spouse benefit (extension of my own). I have to file a 1040A form to get the stimulus payment. Is it correct if I file as "Married filing jointly"?
Many thanks!
Benny,
You should seek tax advice from a professional.
Thanks
Can you recommend a good cheap lawyer/tax guy? Maybe even someone who will work pro boner because it is a really unusual case and probably be on tv?
Got advice from another source. It should be OK to file as married filing jointly because when IRS states that spouse cannot be a dependent they mean to anyone other than her spouse
regards
I filied married joint with my husband and 4 dependents. It will soon be applied to his past due child support amount. However, I filed my injured spouse form and was told by the CSEA that I have to do another one. If the Child Support agency applied the full stimulas amount to the past due, would I have to sue the other party for my share. The total was $1,800.00. Would I get my share back $300 or including my childrens half too. Please let me know. Thank you
mahealai K.
If you filed an injured spouse form in a timely manner, the IRS should have given you your half of the stimulus payment.
At this point you need to talk to a lawyer or accountant or some other professional that is familiar with the agencies in your state.
My husband and I always file jointly, including Form 8379 so that he gets his share of any refund. (I owe back taxes from before we were married.) Why did the IRS apply the entire $1200 Stimulus to my back taxes? Isn't he entitled to his share?
Hey everyone, I am the one who filed the injured spouse but never got my half and it's now November 6th, 2008 and I still havent! The IRS keeps sending me a letter telling me to give them another 30 days. It's now past 120 days and this month I havent got a letter yet so I called and the witch on the other end told me its being looked into and there's nothing I can do. So I said I just have to sit and wait for a "Please give us another 30 days" letter, and she said YES! WHAT THE HELL! Oh and if its not investigated by DEC 30th then I dont get a damn thing!
Luckily, I had a much better experience than some I'm reading about here. My husband and I filed jointly, including the injured spouse form and the IRS put the entire stimulus check toward my back taxes. I sent them a letter – including a copy of all documents – and asked them to correct the mistake. Thirty days later I still hadn't heard anything so I sent another letter. Today I called using ext. 726 and talked to an extrememly helpful woman who told me that someone is working on correcting the error. She said Congress wrote the stimulus package so that if the check is not disbursed by the 31st of December, 2008 the IRS is not obliged to give it to us. However, they are so far behind since so many more people than usual filed tax returns – because of the stimulus – that there will be an opportunity to claim the amount owed on the 2008 returns. She also said she would send an email to the person working on our case reminding her of the time limit and the fact that we followed all the rules. Then she said if my husband should become unemployed, which is a possibility,(Ohio, the economy) to let them know and they will apply hardship standards to our case which will speed up the process. Needless to say, I couldn't have asked for more cooperation. . .except, of course, if she could have told me she was cutting and mailing the check toay. . .Sometimes "you catch more flies with honey etc. etc."
Got a letter CP21B saying we changed your account and reads as follows:
We are required by law to mail the Economoic Stimulus Pyament by December 31, 2008. We could not issue the check by this date so you will not get the payment based on your 2007 tax account. However, you MAY be able to claim a credit on your 2008 federal return.
Account balance before change $1256.32 CR
CREDIT REDUCED OTHER $1200.00
Amount to be refunded to you $ 56.32
(if you owe no other taxes
or other debts we are required
to collect)
Now, my question is: would i be claiming the 1256.32 amount on my 2008 return or just the 56.32? And, why do you think they just didn't give me a check like everyone else? Why me?
Lynn,
Have you called the IRS and asked them?
Hi,
and that i needed to file 8379 form which i did on december 10 th and i mailed it out that day my question is …. i never worked and am a stay at home mom and my hubby owns his own company , and wondering if i will recieve any of the money at all i live in texas so i guess its a community state.
I have a concern , my husband owed child support i was unaware of , so the IRS withheld all of our return which was 2156 and the stimulus rebate 600 for me and him and 900 for our 3 kids..so anyways i called them and they said all of the money was offset
but plz tell me what i need to do or how long i need to wait i call twice a week and they said they havent recieved anything yet or nothing is updated…plz tell me some sort of info that will help me.
thank u very much in advance.
cherie dior,
The IRS should tell you how much you might receive. However, because all checks had to be sent out at the end of the year, You are in a unique situation. You should talk to an accountant. The problem here is your husband. Why isn't he paying his child support?
thank you for the fast respond, okay the reason why its late because my husband filed an extension for his taxes so we always end up getting it in the end of the year.
okay as for why hes not paying child support its because the lady he had sexual contact with is claiming the kids are his and he believes they are not, i however do not know the truth.
they came to him after 15 years that went by and he thinks its rather odd for them to come after him now , why didnt they come to him earlier in the time why now?
so thats a whole new situation am facing this year
as for me contacting an accountant, its gonna be hard cause the people that did our taxes don't seem they like to be contacted after they are done with you with is bad.
thank you kindly for the info .
HELLO!!
this question is for Chris or anyone else that received a CP21B notice in the mail from the IRS..i received the same exact letter on January 5th of this year and still waiting on my tax refund check. it has now been 2 weeks and i am wondering have you received your income tax refund yet? if so, how long did it take? the CP21B letter came to me unexpectedly, now i am waiting and praying on that check…so much i need to take care of…
hope to hear from anyone soon..
Regina
MY STORY.. I CLAIMED MY BOYFRIENDS NIECE ON MY TAXES LAST YEAR. THE MOTHER WAS IN PRISON AND I WAS SUPPORTING THE NIECE. I GOT AUDIT NOW SINCE SHE IS NOT A BLOOD RELATIVE I HAVE TO PAY THIS BACK. MY QUESTION??? IM MAKING THE PAYMENTS AND UP TO DATE WITH THEM. DOES THE IRS STILL TAKE THE REFUND FOR THE NEXT YEAR??? ANYONE???…..
My husband owes student loans from before we met, and I can't file an injured spouse because I don't qualify, I can't work and am on SSI. Can they legally take our tax refund if we filed married jointly? Also is there any law against taking our refund if we make less than a certain amount of money?
Danielle
Hi Danielle. I just wanted to share something with you. I just got married 3 years ago. Our first year of marriage, we filled jointly. BIG MISTAKE!!! He owed back child support – a little over $3,000.00! They took most all of our refund. I did however go to H and R Block and tell them that this debt was his and it was also prior to our marriage. They told me that I could fill out this paper saying that it was his debt before marriage, I would get my refund, but he would go to jail for the child support owed. So of course just being married I didn't want my husband to go to jail. Needless to say I have NEVER filled with him again and I get all of my money.
Hello,
Last year (2007 tax season) my husband and I filed jointly. Unfortunatly, I had an offset due to past due student loans. We were having hardships at the time so we went ahead and filled with ONLY HIS W-2. Even with the injured spouse form they still took half of the return. Which I understand, because legally half of it is mine. I was suppose to amend the taxes but I still haven't. IF I do amend them then will he get back what they took of his return and just keep everything else we were suppose to get back? Or will they just keep it all? Either way I'd rather have the loans paid off. I just think that it's unfair that he's paying for a debt that was done before we got married.
~K.Labanon
Back in 2007 my husband (we were married and filed separatedly) made a choice without my permission to file my daughter on his taxes, while this is not my biggest concern, I was still pretty upset. He owed back child support of more then $3000.00 dollars. The IRS basically took all that he was getting back. I feel so cheated because I didnt gain any income from my daughter. Is there something that I can do to get that money back.He's just taking it as a lost because he claims he didn't know he owed, well I'm pissed because we split my return because we agreed that we split both. He didn't even offer me what was left, we split what was left. Any help!
my husband and i file married filling a joint return. i can not work due to back problems but my husband claims my son as a dependent. so gets earned income credit for him but he owed back child support. can i still file for injured spouse even though i dont work. because i feel cheated he claims my son and i dont get any of the money for my sons part.why should my son and i suffer for what he owes.
I rec'd CP21B letter on 1/5/08 regarding my $1800 rebate. It said I would be receiving my refund within a few weeks – I have NOT gotten a cent. And that I could file for the rebate on my 2008 taxes, which I have. But where us my 2007 refund????
(The ex had filed a fraudulent 2007 return, putting me and our kids on his return for 2007 – he got a refund and the rebate. I sent in fraud form to IRS and documents about my 100% custody of kids, our residence, and of course, my W-2 (the ex had put down 0 income for me) with MY 2007 return but have still not received my refund, which it looks like the IRS has found I should receive. )
Any advice, anyone? Calling the IRS – you are on hold for hours. Do you think I will get my refund from last year – it is a pretty good amount and the IRS has it as a positive in my account.
I had gotten divorced this past July 2008. The IRS had taken my refund for 06′ because he was in jail. The tax preparer never even told me about the injured or innocent spouse thing unfortunately. Since he was obviously not working, I was the only one generating an income. I just don't think it was at all fair to punish me for his wrong doings.
2 years ago a friend of mines filed my taxes for me and she told me that i owed them money but im confused because its going on 3 yrs now and i havent got a letter or a call how do i know if i really owe them or not?
My sons father is behind in Child Support approx. $10,000.00. He filed his taxes already and his return was $897.00 Child Support Services pulled his refund, however they tell me that his wife of 10 years has 6 months to file an Injured Spouse claim for her share. Funny, she can't claim that she had no idea of the debt and I feel that if she married him knowing of the debt, it shouldn't matter that she has a claim to that money. How long does she truely have and how long do I need to wait to contact the IRS?
Ok so my now husband was behind on his child support $1200 to be exact the IRS seized his taxes we new this beforehand but couldnt do ne thing because we didnt have ne money how long are they going to hold onto MY money before they give it to me its rediculous child support is set up to Help OK SO YEAH GETTING THE MONEY IS HELPING but holding onto it when u really need it should be illegal they have now give it back so there aloud to freak out and steal our money right away but when they have our money its time to take there good ole time to give it back????? this government is disgusting it makes me sick how they do things its crooked!! sorry if i offended ne one but im really mad lol