{"id":549737,"date":"2026-09-12T04:15:38","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T04:15:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newjerseyheadlines.com\/news\/story\/549737\/a-divorce-decree-does-not-move-an-irs-balance-and-naperville-enrolled-agents-set-out-what-does.html"},"modified":"2026-09-12T04:15:38","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T04:15:38","slug":"a-divorce-decree-does-not-move-an-irs-balance-and-naperville-enrolled-agents-set-out-what-does","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.northcarolinaheadlines.com\/news\/story\/549737\/a-divorce-decree-does-not-move-an-irs-balance-and-naperville-enrolled-agents-set-out-what-does.html","title":{"rendered":"A Divorce Decree Does Not Move an IRS Balance, and Naperville Enrolled Agents Set Out What Does"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

NAPERVILLE, IL – September 12, 2026 –<\/strong> Taxx Resolution Inc, an enrolled agent led tax resolution firm in Naperville, Illinois, is highlighting a point of federal tax law that continues to catch divorced and separated taxpayers off guard. A state court order assigning a tax debt to one former spouse does not bind the Internal Revenue Service, which can pursue either signature on a joint return for the whole balance.<\/p>\n

The Internal Revenue Service states the position directly. When a joint return is filed, both spouses are responsible for the tax and any interest or penalty due, and that remains true if the couple later divorces, if a divorce decree states that one spouse is responsible, and if one spouse earned all of the income.<\/p>\n

Relief exists, but it comes from federal tax law rather than from family court, and it has to be requested.<\/p>\n

Why a Joint Return Follows Both Signatures<\/p>\n

Joint filing creates joint and several liability, which means the government may collect the entire amount from either filer without apportioning it. Divorce ends the marriage. It does not divide the federal assessment.<\/p>\n

A taxpayer usually learns this after the fact rather than at the decree.<\/p>\n

“In our practice the decree is the first thing people bring us, and it is the one document that does not help,” said Amit Maheshwari, EA (Enrolled Agent, Licensed to Practice before the IRS), tax partner at Taxx Resolution Inc. “It may give you a claim against your former spouse. It gives you nothing against the IRS. What we see is that these surface late, when a refund is taken or a notice lands at a new address for a year nobody remembers, and by then the two people are financially separate. What works is a properly supported request under the relief provisions Congress wrote for exactly this situation, filed inside the window, with the facts evidenced rather than asserted.”<\/p>\n

The Three Forms of Relief and What Each One Reaches<\/p>\n

Federal law provides three routes under Internal Revenue Code section 6015, and the firm’s spousal relief practice covers all three.<\/p>\n

Innocent spouse relief applies where a joint return understated the tax because of errors the requesting spouse did not know about. It reaches tax due on the other spouse’s income from employment or self employment, and it does not reach a taxpayer’s own income, household employment taxes, business taxes, or trust fund recovery penalties.<\/p>\n

Separation of liability relief applies where the couple is divorced, separated, or no longer living together, and allocates the understated tax between them so that each pays only an allocated share. Equitable relief is the route where the first two do not fit and it would be unfair to hold the requesting spouse responsible on all the facts and circumstances. It is the only one of the three that can reach an underpayment as well as an understatement.<\/p>\n

All three are requested on a single form, Form 8857, Request for Innocent Spouse Relief. The Internal Revenue Service states that it considers the information supplied and applies whichever type of relief the taxpayer qualifies for, so a requesting spouse does not have to diagnose their own case before asking.<\/p>\n

The Window That Closes Quietly<\/p>\n

Two of the three routes are time limited in the same way. For innocent spouse relief and for separation of liability relief, Publication 971 states that Form 8857 must generally be filed no later than two years after the date on which the IRS first attempted to collect the tax from the requesting spouse. The clock is started by a collection action, not by the divorce, so a decree entered years earlier neither starts it nor stops it.<\/p>\n

Equitable relief runs on different clocks entirely, and the Internal Revenue Service sets out three of them. Relief from a balance due can be requested for as long as the IRS has to collect the tax, generally ten years from the date of notification. A credit or refund must be requested within three years of filing the return or two years of paying the tax, whichever is later. Relief from tax on community income has its own deadline tied to the assessment period.<\/p>\n

There is also a recognized exception that the Internal Revenue Service publishes. A taxpayer who did know about errors may still qualify where they were a victim of spousal abuse or domestic violence before signing the return, did not challenge items on the return out of fear, or signed because they were pressured or threatened. Requests resting on those facts are evidenced differently from ordinary ones.<\/p>\n

Where Requests Fail<\/p>\n

The firm’s own published guidance on these requests is that the reason one fails is usually the file rather than the facts, and that requests arriving without records are the ones that get denied. Maheshwari added that the failures he sees repeat are a request filed after the window closed, a claim of no knowledge with nothing in the file behind it, an allocation with no basis given for it, and correspondence that stops when the IRS asks its first question.<\/p>\n

Unlimited practice rights let an enrolled agent file the authorization, prepare and submit the request, and handle the follow up correspondence and any appeal on the taxpayer’s behalf, so the requesting spouse is not the one answering the IRS.<\/p>\n

Taxpayers in DuPage County and the western Chicago suburbs facing a former spouse’s tax debt can reach the firm through its Naperville high asset divorce guidance or its spousal relief service page.<\/p>\n

About Taxx Resolution Inc<\/p>\n

Taxx Resolution Inc is a family owned tax resolution firm based in Naperville, Illinois, led by enrolled agents and including a certifying acceptance agent. Enrolled agents are licensed by the Internal Revenue Service and hold unlimited practice rights before it under Circular 230. The firm represents individual and business taxpayers in IRS notices and collections, audit representation and appeals, offers in compromise, installment agreements, innocent spouse relief, unfiled returns, payroll tax debt, and Illinois Department of Revenue matters. It serves Naperville and the surrounding western Chicago suburbs and works with clients nationwide on federal tax matters.<\/p>\n

Media Contact Amit Maheshwari, EA (Enrolled Agent, Licensed to Practice before the IRS) Tax Partner, Taxx Resolution Inc 3612 Lawrence Dr, Naperville, IL 60564 amit@taxxnation.com<\/a> Phone 331-215-7663 Contact page<\/p>\n

Media Contact<\/span>
Company Name:<\/strong> Taxx Resolution Inc
Contact Person:<\/strong> Amit Maheshwari
Email:<\/strong> Send Email<\/a>
Phone:<\/strong> 331-215-7663
City:<\/strong> Naperville
Country:<\/strong> United States
Website:<\/strong> https:\/\/taxxresolution.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NAPERVILLE, IL – September 12, 2026 – Taxx Resolution Inc, an enrolled agent led tax resolution firm in Naperville, Illinois, is highlighting a point of federal tax law that continues<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.northcarolinaheadlines.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549737"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.northcarolinaheadlines.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.northcarolinaheadlines.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.northcarolinaheadlines.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.northcarolinaheadlines.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=549737"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.northcarolinaheadlines.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549737\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.northcarolinaheadlines.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=549737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.northcarolinaheadlines.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=549737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.northcarolinaheadlines.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=549737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}