So my spouse has not lived in the house for over two years. We've been working on divorcing for a little while bit before that. She initiated it. For our 2023 taxes i was going to file married filing single but she was stressing out over doing her own taxes. So I decided to be kind(plus I had some hope she would come to her senses), and filed married filing jointly. Apparently she took money out of her 401k and didn't tell me about it. Fast forward to now, we got a nice little letter from the Irs stating we owe thirty five hundred dollars. This is what I get for trying to be nice although I am not surprised as she tried to do the same thing with her 2024 taxes and even tried to hide it from the attorneys as income. Fortunately, my attorney figured it out and we were able to file separate, and i'm getting credit for that with the settlement. So she has a history of doing this. I talked to a cpa and they made it sound like it would cost eight hundred dollars just for them to file it. Is this something I can file myself, and do I have a case?
Form 8857 Innocent Spouse Relief
byu/Zealousideal-Bath139 intax
Posted by Zealousideal-Bath139
2 Comments
Yes, you have a case. Just do it yourself and send it to Cincinnati. Your situation is simple enough.
You can absolutely file Form 8857 yourself for free without paying a CPA eight hundred dollars and you have a very strong case since you are separated and she hid the retirement withdrawal from you
When you file a joint return you are normally both on the hook for the entire tax bill but Form 8857 is designed exactly for this kind of situation where one spouse does something shady with their income behind the others back
You actually qualify for a specific category called Separation of Liability Relief which applies because you and your spouse have not lived together for over twelve months and are getting divorced this lets the IRS just divide the tax bill based on whose income caused it so they will pin that whole thirty five hundred dollar liability directly on her
You do not need a professional to do this for you just download Form 8857 from the IRS website fill out the questionnaire explaining that she took the 401k distribution without your knowledge and that you have been living apart for over two years attach any proof you have from your divorce attorney about her hiding income and mail it in it will take the IRS a few months to process but it freezes collections against you while they investigate her