Tax Relief: My Signature Was Forged by My Spouse… What Can I Do?
Posted by LWM Team on Tue, May 11, 2010
If you and your spouse file tax jointly, your visible signature is no surprise. If you can’t recognize your signature your spouse may have signed your name. If you don’t recall consenting to your spouse signing, it may be forged. Very often, this only becomes apparent once the IRS puts out feelers because they want money owed on your spouse’s tax return. To begin with, if you had no clue about the filing, you wouldn’t expect the IRS to come after you for money.
The only way to establish if you carry liability for money owed by your spouse is dependent on the filing history you shared. In the case of an unlawful signature, the IRS expects you to persuade them to change the position of the filing from joint to separate. You must not have directly given, or implied through your actions (Tacit Consent Rule), you consented to your spouse placing your signature on the filing. If so, you will be considered an “innocent spouse” and won’t be held responsible for a return without your consent.
Tacit Consent Rule in the Case of Ashworth v Commissioner, TC Memo 1990-423. Pamela Ashworth completed joint tax returns with her husband during their marriage from 1976 to 1981. The return for 1982 was audited and highlighted an outstanding balance. The return in 1982 was also a joint filing but Pamela Ashworth denied signing it. The Court established she did not lodge a separate tax return in 1982 and therefore the pattern of filing jointly from 1976 to 1981 had not been changed. The 1982 return was deemed authorized and lawful. It was based on upholding the Tacit Consent Rule (implied through your actions).
It’s not easy to prove your spouse forged your signature if you can’t show you diverted from a history of filing joint tax returns. The IRS uses that history to uphold the Tacit Consent rule. In order to gain tax relief, it’s up to you, to prove the rule does not apply to a joint filing in question.