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Tax Innocent Spouse Defenses Lawyers
Understanding Tax Disputes and Innocent Spouse Relief
Introduction
One of the most common issues that tax attorneys help their clients with is disputes from the IRS. The IRS is the federal agency that governs tax collection, and they have ample resources available to go after people who evade taxes. If you have tax liabilities with the IRS, you might not be sure how to pay them. The issue is compounded by the fact that back taxes come with interest, penalties, and potentially huge fines.
Spousal Liability in Tax Matters
There are some cases in which you are not the one who committed the tax fraud at all. Instead, you find yourself liable for back taxes because of the actions of an ex-spouse. When you two filed at least one of your joint returns, your spouse purposefully misrepresented their income or took a deduction they weren’t qualified for.
Since joint tax returns combine the income and assets of a married couple, both spouses are considered equally liable for the discrepancies. This liability continues even once you’ve divorced your spouse. You will be liable for the taxes you paid, any taxes you didn’t pay, and any penalties you incur because your household didn’t pay your full share of taxes.
Legislation and Innocent Spouse Relief
There has been legislation passed by Congress to help protect innocent spouses. If a spouse can prove that they had no knowledge of the wrongdoing and were not part of the scheme to defraud the government, then they won’t need to take on half of the tax burden. Instead, all of the back taxes and additional fines will be the responsibility of the spouse who committed the tax fraud.
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I don’t know where to start, I can write a novel about this firm, but one thing I will say is that having my best interest was their main priority since the beginning of my case which was back in Winter 2019. Miss Claire Banks, one of the best Attorneys in the firm represented me very well and was very professional, respectful, and truthful. Not once did she leave me in the dark, in fact she presented all options and routes that could possibly be considered for my case and she reinsured me that no matter what I decided to do, her and the team will have my back and that’s exactly what happened. Not only will I be liberated from this case, also, I will enjoy my freedom and continue to be a mother to my first born son and will have no restrictions with accomplishing my goals in life. Now that’s what I call victory!! I thank the Lord, My mother, Claire, and the Spodek team for standing by me and fighting with me. Words can’t describe how grateful I am to have the opportunity to work with this team. I’m very satisfied, very pleased with their performance, their hard work, and their diligence.Thank you team!
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Seeking Legal Assistance
If you are an innocent spouse who is now facing serious tax problems because of your partner’s actions, it’s important to talk to a lawyer. They can help you establish your case and explain how to have your defense approved so you can find relief.
Qualifying for Relief
In order to qualify for relief as an innocent spouse, you must prove several elements of the situation. These include:
You and your spouse filed a joint return together.
One spouse put incorrect information on the return so that the tax burden would be lower. This might involve underreporting income, failing to report assets, or taking deductions they didn’t qualify for.
The other spouse signed the return without knowing that the taxes were understated. They also had no reason that they would reasonably know about the issue.
Given the situation, holding both spouses equally accountable is unfair. Instead, only the spouse that committed the crime should be made to pay the extra taxes and penalties.
Proving the Case
Every one of these aspects must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. If you can’t prove any of the conditions, you won’t be able to get tax relief with an innocent spouse defense. Your lawyer can help you determine what evidence you have to prove the elements of the circumstances and defend your case.
Evidence and Documentation
The first element of the case is easy to prove. You will only receive a bill for a tax liability if you and your spouse filed a joint tax return. The one exception is if you own taxable property together, and you are now being billed for fraudulent filings your spouse made about it.
If that’s the case, you can’t use the innocent spouse defense. You have to have a tax return as evidence. But there are other parts of tax law that might help you.
Defining “Grossly Erroneous”
With the second point, there are definitions of terms that need to be met. The specific term is “grossly erroneous” information, which can be anything in two broad categories. One of the categories is omission of income that the guilty spouse has. The other is the use of deductions or tax credits that the guilty spouse took even though they did not qualify for them.
Examples and Explanations
If any liability was already disclosed on the tax form, you can’t use the innocent spouse defense. The defense only applies to tax liabilities that you find out about after the fact, because of the misinformation your spouse put on your tax return.
Some examples of when a deduction is erroneous include:
When it is a falsely claimed expense that was never actually paid
When it is not a deductible expense according to explicit language in the deduction worksheet
When there isn’t a legal argument that supports the deduction
Judicial Consideration
In order for the problems to qualify as “grossly erroneous,” the judge must determine that the tax evasion was purposeful. Mistakes are not applicable. If your spouse made a mistake on your tax return, you will still be liable for the shared burden because the innocent spouse defense doesn’t apply.
Legal Counsel and Defense
Your lawyer will need to use your messages and documentation to show that you didn’t know about the issue as well.
