Overview

• Although a taxpayer's individual filing status does not typically affect his child support obligations, it may affect the amount of his child support payments based on his state's family laws. In some states, a parent's future child support payments may depend on not only his income but also his spouse's income. However, whether a parent files as a married taxpayer filing joint returns or as a taxpayer filing individual returns does not have a bearing on the amount of child support he will have to pay.
  
  

Tax Offset Program

• A taxpayer's filing status may affect his child support obligations under the Tax Offset Program. The federal Tax Offset Program allows the Internal Revenue Service to withhold a taxpayer's tax refund check if he is delinquent in his child support payments. Congress enacted the intercept program to help states, the federal government, government financial aid programs and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services collect their unpaid loans and debts from taxpayers. Taxpayers who file joint tax returns are both subject to the Department of the Treasury's offsets.
  
  

Joint Tax Refunds

• According to federal law, although a taxpayer who files joint tax returns with her spouse may not be liable for paying child support, her joint tax refund check is subject to federal intercepts. Married taxpayers who file their taxes jointly are each separately liable for paying unpaid tax debts. A child support debt, according to federal law, becomes an unpaid tax debt. Thus, a married taxpayer is jointly subject to a federal tax intercept to repay her spouse's child support obligations.
  
  

Injured Spouse Allocation Form

• Although the Internal Revenue Service can withhold a joint refund check for unpaid child support obligations through the federal intercept program, the Code of Federal Regulations contains an exception to the intercept rules for innocent and injured spouses of noncustodial parents who were liable for repaying their child support obligations. Injured spouses can file an IRS Form 8379, Injured Spouse Allocation, for a refund of a portion of their withheld offsets. To apply for an injured spouse refund, taxpayers can file their Form 8379 separately or file it with their amended tax returns or their original joint tax returns if they know their tax refunds will be subject to the offsets.