I don't want my return to go to student loans what do I need to do ? For wife and I

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
January 12, 2021
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TurboTax Free Edition Online

Best answer by ee-ea

Form 8379 lets you (the "injured spouse") get back your portion of a jointly-filed refund if it's seized or offset to pay your spouse's debt.

You must file jointly to use this form. Also, filing an 8379 will delay your federal refund by up to 14 weeks.

To file this form in TurboTax:

Open your return.
(To do this, sign in to TurboTax and click the orange Take me to my return button.)
In the search box, search for injured spouse and then click the "Jump to" link in the search results.
Answer Yes to Do you want to claim innocent or injured spouse relief? and carefully follow the onscreen instructions.

Note: Pay close attention to the screens, as some of them apply to innocent spouse relief, which is something else. Leave those questions blank if you only want to claim injured spouse relief.

When your return is open, In the search box, search for injured spouse and then click the "Jump to" link in the search results. Answer Yes to Do you want to claim innocent or injured spouse relief? and carefully follow the onscreen instructions for Injured Spouse.

ee-eaAnswer

Employee

Form 8379 lets you (the "injured spouse") get back your portion of a jointly-filed refund if it's seized or offset to pay your spouse's debt.

You must file jointly to use this form. Also, filing an 8379 will delay your federal refund by up to 14 weeks.

To file this form in TurboTax:

Open your return.
(To do this, sign in to TurboTax and click the orange Take me to my return button.)
In the search box, search for injured spouse and then click the "Jump to" link in the search results.
Answer Yes to Do you want to claim innocent or injured spouse relief? and carefully follow the onscreen instructions.

Note: Pay close attention to the screens, as some of them apply to innocent spouse relief, which is something else. Leave those questions blank if you only want to claim injured spouse relief.

Opus 17

Employee

If you owe a government debt, there is nothing you can do to avoid your refund being garnished, except maybe arrange your withholding so you get less tax withheld and more money in your weekly paycheck and a smaller refund.

If your spouse has a government debt from before the marriage, you can protect your share of a tax refund either by including a form 8379 injured spouse form with your return, or filing the 8379 separately after you learned that your refund was garnished, or by filing married filing separately. Filing MFS will guarantee that your refunds are separate but you may get a smaller refund since MFS has fewer deductions and credits and you will probably owe more tax. The injured spouse form is not guaranteed to completely separate your refund from your spouse but it should protect at least part of it.

If your spouse has a government debt that happened during the marriage, the injured spouse will not protect you. Any debts that were incurred while you were married, if you previously filed jointly, are joint debts.