Thursday, July 28, 2011

IRS Announces New Innocent (Or Injured) Spouse Relief Policy

[Photo from Wikipedia]
We are divorce lawyers, not tax lawyers, in Augusta, Georgia.  However, we wanted to pass along to you, (for you to discuss with your own attorney), some information issued by the I.R.S. this week concerning "innocent spouse relief."  This refers to the fairly common situation in which a divorcing spouse, even after they have gotten a divorce from their worthless spouse, "Sluggo," gets zapped by the I.R.S. for back taxes and penalties on income earned, but not reported, by Sluggo.  According to the policy, in some cases, the I.R.S. will not hold the innocent spouse responsible for Sluggo's problems, provided the innocent spouse did not know, nor could have known, about the tax understatement by their ex.

The problem, in the past, for some innocent spouses, has been that there was a two year time limit in which to seek relief based upon this equitable ground.  But now, thankfully, according to I.R.S. notice 2011-70, the two year time limit may be waived!  You can learn more about this policy change by going to http://www.irs.gov/ or by consulting with a tax professional. 

Again, we are just Augusta, GA divorce attorneys, not tax lawyers!

2 comments:

  1. Injured spouse is more the way they called it in 1999/2000. This is very good to know Richard. Thanks for this post.

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  2. nice post buddy, i was get some trouble from IRS, i never think if i'll get it

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