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Injured Spouse and EIP: Continued and Increasingly Troublesome Issues

Posted on June 16, 2020

When the CARES Act was first passed there was a flurry of activity in the tax practitioner community focusing on what potential issues might arise in the IRS’s administration of the Economic Impact Payment (EIP) and the authorizing statute itself. As the EIPs have been disbursed, the focus has shifted from “potential” to “actual” issues. To date, the biggest actual issue I’ve seen has been the offset of EIP to child support where one spouse is not liable for that child support. It is the prototypical “injured spouse” case, but where that remedy has been unavailing.

The magnitude of that issue (in terms of how many people it has negatively affected) has put it on the IRS’s radar. The IRS specifically acknowledges that issue in their FAQs, as covered by Keith here. That post, as well as my own previous post on the issue now have accumulated over 200 comments. If you have not had a client with this problem or otherwise known someone who experienced this problem, you might take a moment to read a few of the many comments in order to obtain the human perspective of the impact of this injured spouse issue. From what I can tell, the IRS has not yet fixed the problem for those it is trying to. Furthermore, the fix proposed wouldn’t help a huge class of taxpayers -those that didn’t file Form 8379 with their 2018/19 return. There is a serious concern that injured spouses may end up with fewer actual dollars in their pockets if the IRS delays too long.

Action is needed, and quick (at the absolute latest before December 31, 2020). This post outlines why I think this sense of urgency is required from a legal, if not humanitarian, sense.

Something law students learn in Federal Tax I is the concept of “time-value” of money. $1 today is worth more than $1 a year from now. In real life, this truth takes on less-than-trivial meaning mostly when the $1 has a bunch of zeros added behind it. For EIPs there are not enough zeros behind the $1 for time-value to be a huge concern. And so, when I speak of the fewer actual dollars going to injured spouses that have to wait until filing 2020 returns, I am not speaking from a time-value perspective.

Similarly, though more pressing, I am also not speaking of the very real “opportunity costs” of delayed receipt. People that need the money now may have to choose between foregoing necessary purchases or going into debt to fund them. For the clients I work with it is almost always these concerns that are what really matter -not the amount of interest you could earn if you had the money now, but the amount of interest you may have to pay without it.

But since I am not an economist and this is a tax procedure blog, it is the procedural issues that I will focus on. And from a tax procedure perspective I believe there is a real concern that the “advanced” EIP may be worth more to many injured spouses than the EIP claimed on a 2020 return in terms of actual dollars in the taxpayer’s pocket.

Imagine essentially identical individuals, each entitled to a $1,200 credit. One gets their $1,200 EIP this July. The other has their $1,200 credit intercepted to go towards their spouse’s child support obligation. This latter individual (the prototypical “injured spouse”) has to wait until filing their 2020 return (with Form 8379) to hope to receive the money in their pocket. Apart from the wait, this injured spouse may end up with fewer actual dollars sent to them. Why might this be?

Put simply, it might be the case if the injured spouse has a tax liability on their 2020 return that eats into the EIP (obviously they had no such 2020 tax liability when receiving the advanced EIP before the close of the taxable year). Arguably (though I think likely), the EIP is not “protected” against tax as shown on the return claiming it. IRC 6428(b) describes the “treatment” of the credit. The cross-cites of that statute boil down to “treat this like any other refundable credit.” In a nutshell, the way a refundable credit works is to first reduce tax, and then pay out (“refund”) whatever is left over. The critical part is that a refundable credit first goes towards reducing the tax on the return. If there is more refundable credit than tax, there is an “overpayment” (see IRC 6401) that the Treasury issues as a refund… (generally) subject to offset against certain other debts (see IRC 6402).

So if I’m due an EIP of $1200 on my 2020 tax return because I didn’t receive any “advanced portion,” but I have tax of $1000 on that return, I will get a check for $200 -subject (potentially) to offset. Yes, I got the full “value” of the $1200 EIP, but I didn’t get all $1200 in my pocket the same way I would have if I received the “advanced” credit.

(Note that if the EIP were not applied to tax as shown on a return the IRS would be in the extremely awkward position of issuing a refund (the EIP) to 2020 filers that actually owe on the return. I don’t think this is required by statute, though I do think Sec. 2201(d) will create a whole other set of headaches for the IRS in the 2021 filing season pertaining to offsets… more on that later.)

Problems With My Reasoning

But wait! Why does the injured spouse in this example need to wait until filing their 2020 return to get the credit? Why can’t they file Form 8379 as a standalone now? In fact, perhaps it would be completely incorrect to file Form 8379 with the 2020 return because their 2020 return would show an EIP due of $0 -they (arguably) “received” their full credit, which would then reduce it to $0 on the return (see IRC 6428(e)(1)).

That may be correct. But, at present, it might not resolve the issue for two reasons: one legal, one administrative. Let’s begin with rehashing the administrative issue, which will play into the legal issue.

The administrative issue is that unless it was submitted with your 2018 or 2019 e-filed return, you cannot submit a standalone Form 8379 electronically to the IRS. And right now paper is piling up at the IRS processing centers. Further, there are serious questions about how to even properly fill out Form 8379 for your advanced EIP. If you were to file your 2019 return electronically, can you include Form 8379 with it for a credit that doesn’t exist on a 2019 return?

Right now the IRS appears to be using the fact that a Form 8379 was filed at all on a 2018/19 return as a “marker” for assisting these injured spouses with their advanced EIPs. As mentioned previously, progress on that front appears to be slow. But even assuming the IRS fixes that issue soon, the problem remains for any of the following: (1) those that already filed 2018/19 taxes without Form 8379, and (2) those that haven’t filed 2018/19 taxes yet, but that would only be eligible for Form 8379 based on the advanced EIP. For example, if you owe on your 2018/19 return, or if all credits/refund is attributable to the liable spouse, will the IRS system (or tax preparation software) process or even allow you to file Form 8379 electronically? I haven’t tried, but I have my doubts that a 2019 return showing a balance due could electronically submit Form 8379 for the advanced EIP that (apparently) goes nowhere on the 2019 return itself.  

(As an aside, I am also of the opinion that the “advanced” EIP should be treated as a 2018 or 2019 credit based on the clear language of IRC 6428(f)(1) and (2). That would arguably allow a 2018 or 2019 return to include the credit on Form 8379, but creates a whole other set of problems as discussed by Bob Probasco here. Nevertheless, I recognize that I remain in the minority on that view.)

In any event, administratively, I have serious doubts that either standalone Form 8379s or those filed with 2018/19 returns will be processed or otherwise resolved any time soon. And that leads to the legal issue. Because of the statutory language failing to issue the “advanced” EIP by 12/31/2020 may carry legal consequences.

IRC 6428(f)(3)(B) specifically provides that “No refund or credit shall be made or allowed under this subsection [i.e. the advanced credit] after December 31, 2020.” Perhaps there is a workaround to this. One may argue the refund/credit for injured spouses already was made or allowed prior to 12/31/2020. Now, with the injured spouse request, the IRS is simply trying to route the EIP to the right location, which doesn’t run afoul of the 12/31/2020 prohibition. As straightforward as that interpretation may be, it isn’t a slam dunk, and history gives some reason to be wary. In 2008 the IRS scrambled to process injured spouse forms before December from concerns that they were legally barred from issuing the credit after 12/31/2008 based on essentially identical limiting statutory language. The TIGTA report here is instructive, particularly at page 3.

I hope the interpretation that advanced EIPs were already issued and can now be re-routed without issue prevails. Because if it doesn’t then any payment made after 2020 must, by necessity, be the “regular” EIP running headlong into the issues I’ve already outlined (i.e. being reduced by tax shown on the 2020 return, to say nothing of being reduced by the amount of advanced EIP already issued).

The long and short of this is that injured spouse processing is a morass that needs heightened IRS attention. This is true with even greater force if 12/31/2020 becomes a magical “cut-off” point where any movement of money attributable to “advanced” EIP morphs into “regular” EIP, not unlike Cinderella’s stagecoach into a pumpkin.

I have serious concerns that go beyond just the injured spouse issue, and to whether EIPs claimed on 2020 tax returns should be given other “special” status because of the broad language of Sec. 2201(d). But that is a bridge we can cross closer to the 2021 filing season. For now, we know that the injured spouse issue exists and needs attention. I don’t envy the IRS’s predicament in administering this code provision, especially in the midst of a pandemic, “TCJA” changes, and the Taxpayer First Act. But this is real money to real people in real need. It deserves attention.

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