Jo, a former client who has just received a divorce, has also ...

[ghost!]

Jo, a former client who has just received a divorce, has also just received notice that the last three years' taxes were improperly filed and they should have paid an additional 15,000 . Jo remembers signing the joint returns, but her ex-spouse was the businessman, and he always prepared them himself. She has no memory of ever reading them before signing. What can we tell her about her situation?
 
  What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

Which of the following does not apply to periodic payments a spouse makes to his or her ex-spouse for the support of both spouse and children?
 
  a. They may be taxable to the extent that they comprise alimony.
  b. They are known as unallocated support.
  c. They should be reduced to reflect a child's age or needs in order to remain untaxed.
  d. They are known as family support payments.

[KKcool]

Answer to Question 1

Because they filed a joint return that apparently has a deficiency (we should at least explore that), we may pursue innocent spouse relief. We can file a Request for Innocent Spouse Relief on IRS Form 8857, per IRS Publication 971 . We will need to be able to confirm that the understatement was due to the other spouse's erroneous item, such as disallowed deductions or credits. At the time Jo signed the return she did not, in fact, know there was an error, nor did she have any reason to believe there was one. She may be able to avoid full, or at least partial, liability.

Answer to Question 2

c

[ghost!]

Excellent

[dantucker]

Thanks for the timely response, appreciate it