Arrears and Income Taxes

[Wi-Mom]

Ok.. so my Fiance's ex found out we were getting married and went to WI child support and asked them to check his income to make sure she was getting everything she could. They each have a kid, so they compared his income to hers and found a way to increase the offset amount he pays to her. She's cut back her hours at work (making less) and has told my fiance that she makes as much as she did at work selling AVON but they don't know about that.

 Then they went through his income for the years 2000, 2001 & 2002 and made some sort of comparison to how much he paid in (which at the time was before he got custody of his son). They found a $1900.00 discrepancy that he can't possibly prove is wrong. His wages have ALWAYS been garnished at a fixed percent by court order and suddenly they found that he didn't pay enough?

He checked with his attorney and he said it would be cheaper to pay it then to fight it. He now has one of their two children living with him, and they are going to garnish his wages for the arrears plus all tax returns, which forced him to cancel his son's braces. He can't pay for both.

 So now we're getting married in September. I am expecting a nice little tax return myself since I will also be claiming two children. If we file jointly like a married couple should.. They will garnish ALL of it. Including MY refund! If we file separately, I won't be entitled to as much money.

In the meantime, each of the children have told us (separately) that she is planning to use the money to take a trip to Panama with her new fiance. It certainly won't get spent on the children.

We're not even married yet... I'm wondering what else is going to happen.

Someone told me that they used to sign a form every year when their husband owed arrears.. and the IRS and State would allow them to file jointly but she got her refund based on what she'd contributed. An attorney had told me that they would take it all... Which is not fair to my children.. I am a divorced mother too. Has anyone ever heard of this?

[katz]

I believe it is called the "injured spouce" form? Or something like that. OR you could just get it over with this year on your taxes, instead of your dh being garnished?

[Wi-Mom]

I was relying on the refund for some house repairs... This is the last year I can claim my 17 year old daughter (I believe).. so it would be the last chance to get the tax benefits for her... and I really need to make those repairs. That's what I do with them every year..

[Kitty C.]

Yes, you CAN get all your refund, even if you file joint, as long as you file for 'injured spouse' along with your return.  They will figure out how much of the joint refund is yours and send it all to you.  Ask rini about this, as she's a whiz on the tax issues.

Don't believe EVERYTHING an atty. tells you.  Go to //www.irs.gov, put 'injured spouse' in their search, and it will tell you all about it.  

[Wi-Mom]

Thanks Kitty and Katz!! I did go to irs.gov and found the injured and innocent spouse form!! Woohoo! Now I need to find out if it's on quicken..

[iLUVmySD]

2003 was my second year filing a joint return with my husband, who also owes back child support.  I have filed the injured spouse form both times and never had any problems.  But just a note, if your fiance's ex is planning on spending the money on a vacation, she might have to wait awhile for it. The law in Nevada, and probably everywhere in the U.S., is that the state has to hold my husband's portion of the money (that is going to his ex) for six months before they will release it to her.  They are require to hold it for this amount of time in order to allow the "injured spouse" to file the correct paperwork.  We have even tried to get the state to release it to her sooner by faxing them a copy of the completed form, but they won't do it.  So tell her not to plan her vacation until she gets it, or not...it's your choice.

[smtotwo]

Theres a link at //www.wisconsinfathers.org to DWD-40 to calculate supprt payments.  

There are 2 or 3 different formulas.  1 is current support based on the law that just went into effect in January, which includes both parents income and calculates amount of time children spend with the parent.

2 is the old formula-I think.  and 3 is a comparison(sp?) of the 2 amounts.

This was what we used to determine if we should ask for a  review of support or not.