Tax Debt Solutions Blog

"Innocent" Spouses & Liability For An IRS Wage Levy

 digg it |   delicious |   StumbleUpon |  reddit 

Frequently when someone is issued an IRS wage levy, they may worry about whether their spouse’s income will also be subject to the levy. The fact is that the IRS is not allowed to take income from your spouse if they are deemed to not be liable for the taxes, whether or not you filed a joint return.

If you filed separate tax returns the situation is very simple; only you can be held liable for the IRS wage levy and only you will have to pay it. You are the person who signed the return, and therefore, under the law, you are the only person who can be held responsible for paying off the debt.

Additionally, if you have been issued an IRS wage levy for debt from a return you filed a few years ago with an ex-spouse, the IRS will not hold your new spouse accountable for any debt – it is either yours or your ex-spouse’s.

If you have filed a joint return with your current spouse, they will still not necessarily be held liable for your tax debt. The IRS has rules and regulations in place to protect so-called ‘innocent’ spouses from being held accountable for debt that is not theirs and having things such as IRS wage levies imposed upon them. ‘Innocence’ here is determined by whether the IRS decides if your spouse knew about the unpaid taxes and whether they received any of the ‘benefits’ of them. If they decide your spouse didn’t know about the unpaid taxes and/or didn’t feel any benefits, they will be granted relief, otherwise they very well could be subject to a wage levy too, although what happens is up to the IRS.