Wife Furious After Realizing Her Tax Refund Was Used To Pay Her Husband's $7K In Back Child Support Without Her Consent
It turns out it's a lot more common than any of us realize.
fizkes | Getty Images | Canva Pro Most of us rely on our tax refunds every year to keep us afloat and maybe, if we're lucky, get us a bit ahead. So when they're drastically reduced by new tax laws or garnished for something else, it's infuriating. But for one woman on Reddit, her tax return was seized through no fault of her own, and it turns out what happened to her is more common than most of us realize.
The woman's tax refund was used to pay her husband's $7000 in back child support.
There's a reason money experts tell people to have a very detailed look at each other's finances before they get hitched. So-called financial infidelity, where spouses keep financial secrets from each other, is unfortunately very common. A recent survey found that 40% of couples have financial skeletons they keep firmly in the closet, despite 45% saying they believe financial infidelity is just as big a betrayal as physical infidelity.
This woman is currently staring down the barrel of exactly how ruinous, both financially and emotionally, these secrets can be. She wrote in a Reddit post that for the second year in a row, she and her husband filed their taxes jointly, but she got a very rude awakening this year. "I was completely unaware that he had $7,000 in unpaid child support," she wrote. "I thought he was making regular monthly payments." Boy, was she wrong.
Her husband tried to tell her it would actually help them financially, but she's not buying it.
IRS tax refunds can be seized in a number of cases, including if you owe back federal or state taxes, owe a repayment for unemployment benefits, or default on your student loans. And, of course, they can also be seized if you are in default for child support. Since this couple filed jointly, the relevant authorities took all the money, not just her husband's.
Understandably, the woman was furious when she found out why only $175 had been deposited into her account instead of the expected $ 7,000. "I feel blindsided, violated, and taken advantage of," she wrote.
But her husband could not have been more dismissive, trying to spin it as good financial news for both of them. "[He] told me I should be grateful the child support is now paid off because it means he can contribute more money each month. That logic doesn't make sense to me," she wrote.
Uh, yeah, it shouldn't make sense to you because it doesn't make any sense! This is wildly dishonest, and worse still, her husband's child is still a minor, which means he still owes child support and will for years. It doesn't even make the financial difference he claims!
People in this situation can file an 'injured spouse' claim, but there is no guarantee they will get all the money back.
Luckily, the IRS has a remedy for situations such as this called an "injured spouse" claim, which has nothing to do with being physically injured (don't worry). It's for situations such as this woman's: When you are held accountable for debts that are your spouse's and not yours.
Taxpayers can do so by filing IRS form 8379 before, along with, or after filing their taxes, and in most cases, the injured spouse will be refunded their share of the tax refund. Community property states, however, operate a bit differently.
The states of Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin treat all assets within a marriage as jointly owned, and in some cases, that impacts situations like this woman's. The refund due to her would be at the discretion of state law, and may not be for the full amount, or anything at all.
Several people on Reddit, including attorneys, urged the woman to immediately file this form, which she did, which will hopefully rectify the money part of this fiasco. But, of course, it will do nothing to remedy the betrayal.
And according to lawyers who advised her in the Reddit comments, that betrayal is pretty cut and dried. "There’s no way he didn’t know he owed that money, and there’s no way he didn’t know it was coming out of your refund," one former attorney wrote. "The notices are insanely pervasive; his job and bank also knew this would happen. He set you up and hid information from you."
Several others pointed out that there's another mystery at hand, here: Where exactly has the money he was supposed to be paying for child support actually been going? It seems this woman, unfortunately, has a much bigger problem on her hands than just a lost refund. All the more reason to have hard conversations about finances before getting married, because you just never know.
John Sundholm is a writer, editor, and video personality with 20 years of experience in media and entertainment. He covers culture, mental health, and human interest topics.
