Is a Failure to Communicate Just Too Taxing? Get the Innocent Spouse Relief You Deserve

 As a rule, spouses who file their income taxes under the status of Married Filing Jointly are jointly and severally liable for any income tax liability shown on the return as well as any additional income tax liability which may arise as the result of an audit. In other words, if your spouse makes a mistake on your jointly filed income tax return, you may be held both jointly liable (both you and your spouse) and severally liable (just you) for the amount of the underpayment caused by your spouse's error. And, to add to the fun, the amount of income earned by either spouse is irrelevant in determining joint and several liability.https://askcompetentlawyer.com/divorce1/ So, even if you report zero income for a given tax year, you could be held personally liable for the entire amount of the tax liability that results from any underpayment or your spouse's error on your jointly filed return.

However, the IRS and certain states provide "innocent spouse" relief from joint and several liability when the appropriate circumstances exist. Typically, there are three types of innocent spouse relief. A common theme of the relief provisions is lack of knowledge on the part of the "innocent spouse". If a spouse can show that he or she neither knew nor should have known of the error on the jointly filed income tax return, that spouse may not be held liable for any portion of the underpaid tax and penalties associated with such error. In this instance, a failure to communicate may not save a marriage but it might just save some taxes.