Wife Didn't Sign Return

I didn't sign that joint return so I'm not liable for the taxes.

Maybe you aren't, but maybe you are.

A spouse will be equally as liable as the signing spouse where the facts indicate the nonsigning spouse intended a joint return. Here are two cases where wives never signed joint returns.

Miriam Krock, after graduating from Boston University and marrying, spent her time raising their two children and participating in community activities. After 37 years of marriage, her husband was indicted for tax evasion.

He fled to the Bahamas to avoid arrest and hadn't returned at the time of this tax case. For the early years of their marriage each filed separately and then, for 22 years, they filed jointly.

For the last six years, the Internal Revenue Service increased taxes by $2.2 million and said Miriam must share the liability even though she hadn't signed any of those six returns. The court agreed with the agency because the couple had a history of filing jointly. She always reported her income to her husband's accountant, and her husband always handled financial matters. There might be an escape hatch. Even when a spouse is presumed to have signed, he or she may qualify as an innocent spouse and not be liable. But don't take it to the bank. It's difficult to meet the requirements.

In a case similar to the Krock case, William Crew, a doctor, and his wife, Hilda, a substitute teacher, filed joint returns for 38 years. The Warrensville Heights, Ohio, couple separated on and off for the last three years, then divorced.

Hilda filed a separate return for the first year of separation, but no returns for the next two years. For those years William gave their preparer his data and her withholding tax forms, which she had left, allowing him to have access. The accountant prepared joint returns at his direction.

He signed her name one year, and the return preparer signed it the next.

Even though she didn't sign, the IRS assessed taxes against Hilda, jointly with her husband, for their last two years of marriage.

The court concurred because all their married life except the year she filed separately, William assumed the responsibility of preparing and filing their joint returns.

Planning Tip: The wife, in these two cases, probably could have avoided liability if she had:

Informed her husband's return preparer of her refusal to file jointly.
Notified the IRS of her refusal to file jointly or
Refused to give tax information to her husband and filed separately.