What is IRS Innocent Spouse Relief?
IRS Innocent spouse relief is a way to relieve the responsibility for tax, penalties, and interest resulting from items that were improperly reported or omitted from your tax return by a spouse or former spouse without your knowledge.
IRS Innocent spouse relief only applies to individual income or self-employment taxes. For example, Household Employment taxes, Individual Shared Responsibility payments, and business taxes and trust fund recovery penalty for employment taxes are not eligible for innocent spouse relief.
What type of tax filing mistakes can be corrected with IRS Innocent Spouse Relief?
- Unreported income – This is any gross income item received by your spouse (or former spouse) that is not reported
- Incorrect deduction, credit, or basis – This is any improper deduction, credit, or property basis claimed by your spouse (or former spouse).
How does IRS Innocent Spouse Relief Work?
As tax relief attorneys in Ohio, we want you to know that there are four conditions that must be met in order to qualify for the IRS Innocent Spouse Relief:
- You filed a joint return which has an understatement of tax because of mistakes made by your spouse (or former spouse).
- You signed the joint return without knowledge or reason to know that there were filing or reporting errors.
- After taking into account all the facts and circumstances, it would be unfair to hold you liable for the understatement of tax.
- You and your spouse (or former spouse) have not transferred property to one another as part of a fraudulent scheme to defraud the IRS or any other third party, such as a creditor, ex-spouse, or business partner.
The IRS has more detailed definitions and explanations of these qualifications:
https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/innocent-spouse-relief
Do you need help as an Innocent Spouse seeking Relief? As tax relief attorneys in Ohio, we specialize in dealing with back tax resolution and getting IRS Innocent Spouse Relief. Reach contact us today.