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Need help with Part III on Form 8379!

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
June 1, 2019
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my husband owes student loans and is the one making income. I did not work but we live in a community property. How would I fill out Part III? Mainly questions 13 and 17?

Best answer by JohnW15

You'll need to look at the line instructions in the Instructions for Form 8379, but here are some tips.

Line 14: Adjustments to income are taken from that section of the tax return (you may not have any). If you do have any, apply them to the spouse who they belong to based on the earnings. These are found in "Adjustments to Income" if you filed a Schedule 1, Additional Income and Adjustments to Income.

Line 15: If the injured spouse has all the income, he or she should take all of the standard deduction (let the IRS adjust it if they want to when they get the form).

Line 16: For tax years 2018 and later, enter -0- in all three columns.

Line 17: Enter all credits --EXCEPT EARNED INCOME CREDIT -- under the injured spouse. The IRS will figure the allocation for EIC, if it was claimed.

Allocate as much as possible to the injured spouse based on the criteria below. It really depends on whether you live in a community property state or not.

If you do not live in a community property state, and both of you have income, you can divide exemptions and deductions up any way you see fit. Enter most of the deductions under the injured spouse. It is possible the IRS may make some adjustments based on the income levels for each of you. Let them do that when they receive it.
If you live in a community property state, community income would be split equally between the two spouses. With respect to deductions, the deductions would be split depending on whether the expenses related to community income or separate income.

There are nine community property states: Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin.
Alaska is an opt-in community property state that gives both parties the option to make their property community property.

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lifegabriellaAuthor

marcuser_22, but we live in a community property and have a child together...

macuser_22

Employee

If you did not work then you have no refund to protect. Filling a 8379 will do nothing. It can only protect any refund that you would have received if filing separately which is zero if you had no taxable income. (Line 17 is credits that yiu could claim if filing separate returns, with zero income that amount is zero. 19 is the amount of tax withholding your W-2 - again zero.

**Disclaimer: This post is for discussion purposes only and is NOT tax advice. The author takes no responsibility for the accuracy of any information in this post.**

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JohnW15Answer