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Best answer by Coleen3

When filing jointly, the Injured Spouse Allocation (Form 8379) lets you recover your portion of your refund that was kept by the IRS to pay your spouse's debt (back taxes, back child support, etc.). Form 8379 can be filed right with your taxes. No special signature is needed.

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:

  1. Sign in and click the Take me to my return button.
  2. In the search box, search for injured spouse and then click the "Jump to" link in the search results.
  3. 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.

1 reply

Coleen3Answer
Employee
June 4, 2019

When filing jointly, the Injured Spouse Allocation (Form 8379) lets you recover your portion of your refund that was kept by the IRS to pay your spouse's debt (back taxes, back child support, etc.). Form 8379 can be filed right with your taxes. No special signature is needed.

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:

  1. Sign in and click the Take me to my return button.
  2. In the search box, search for injured spouse and then click the "Jump to" link in the search results.
  3. 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.

Employee
June 4, 2019
This is just not working for me.  It takes me to the innocent spouse relief form 8857 every time.  I need to go directly to Form 8379.  No matter what I put in during this "jump to" I cannot get to the proper form.

The first jump takes me to Innocent and Injured Spouse Relief and wants me to put in the years, even if I leave that blank it still takes me to 8857. There is NO link to 8379 within that form, and only suggests it without a link to the form.