This is exactly what I'm worried about. Did they go after his spouse too? My main concern is whether they can touch my income since the debt was from before we were married.

They didn't go after his spouse directly because they filed separately, but since you've already filed jointly, that ship has unfortunately sailed. When you file jointly, you essentially take on responsibility for each other's tax debts in the eyes of the IRS. They absolutely can garnish your wages even though the debt originated before marriage. The joint return creates what they call "joint and several liability." My friend's situation got even worse because they also put a tax lien on their house which made it impossible to refinance or sell without paying the debt. The collection agency has most of the same powers as the IRS itself, so definitely don't ignore this thinking it'll just go away. The 10-year statute of limitations is your best friend here if you can verify when it started and if anything has happened to extend it.

Innocent Spouse Relief probably won't work here because they already filed jointly after marriage. That usually only works if the spouse didn't know about the tax issue when they signed the joint return. The IRS takes the position that filing jointly means accepting responsibility for past tax debts.

Thanks for this advice! I never thought about filing an identity theft form, but that makes sense if my info is being used on an account that isn't mine. Have you dealt with incorrect income reporting yourself? How long did it take to get resolved?

Yes, I had a similar issue when a company I briefly consulted for reported all their platform income under my SSN by mistake. It took about 5 months to fully resolve, which was frustrating but eventually worked out. The Identity Theft Affidavit is helpful because it flags your account in the IRS system and can help prevent collection activities while you're resolving the dispute. Just be clear in your explanation that this is a case of incorrect income reporting by a business, not someone stealing your identity for credit fraud.

This is exactly what happened to me in 2023! Request those transcripts ASAP because they'll show the exact source of the reporting. In my case, it was a former business partner who kept using my SSN for company accounts after I left. Such a nightmare to fix.

I hadn't thought about coworking spaces! That's a really smart alternative. Do you know if there are any specific documentation requirements for using coworking spaces as a business expense? And would that still work if I keep the hotel for personal comfort but also use a coworking space?

For coworking spaces, keep the receipts/invoices from the space and note the business activities performed there each day. Take photos of your workspace and save any digital check-ins. If you're producing deliverables while there, note that in your records. You could absolutely still keep the hotel for personal reasons while using a coworking space for business. This actually creates a much cleaner deduction situation because the coworking space has no personal use component - it's 100% business. The hotel would then be clearly personal and non-deductible, but your dedicated workspace would be fully deductible. This arrangement also makes it much harder for the IRS to question the business purpose since there's no mixing of personal and business use in the same space.

Going through an audit sounds terrifying. Did you end up owing a lot more in taxes after they disallowed your deductions?

That's a good point I hadn't considered. I think each employer is definitely calculating as if that's our only income. How would I figure out what the right additional withholding amount should be for each job? Is there a calculator for that?

The IRS has a Tax Withholding Estimator tool on their website that's designed exactly for situations like yours with multiple jobs. It will walk you through entering info from all four W-2s and then recommend specific withholding amounts for each job. For a quick rule of thumb, take your total expected annual tax bill (probably around $44-45k based on your income) and subtract what you're currently having withheld. Then divide that shortage by the number of pay periods remaining in the year to determine how much additional withholding you need across all jobs. You can split that amount across all four jobs however makes sense for your cash flow.

At their income level ($270k), they're probably phased out of most credits. The Saver's Credit phases out at $73k for married filing jointly, and the Child Tax Credit starts phasing out at $200k. Education credits have similar income limitations.

But this seems super unfair to people barely getting by. So the tax code basically says "ur so poor u dont owe taxes... unless ur self employed then pay up"?? Is there any way around this or any special credits for low income self employed people?

You make a good point about the seeming unfairness. There are actually some options that can help. You may qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) which is specifically designed for lower-income workers, including self-employed people. This credit is refundable, meaning you can get money back even if you don't owe income tax. Also, don't forget about business deductions. You can deduct legitimate business expenses from your self-employment income before calculating the 15.3% tax. This includes things like supplies, mileage, home office expenses, phone/internet costs used for business, etc. For many gig workers, these deductions can significantly reduce the taxable self-employment income, sometimes by 30-50% depending on your situation.

TurboTax does handle this correctly. I was in this situation and it asked if I had any self-employment income. When I entered my DoorDash earnings, it automatically added Schedule C and SE to my return. It also walked me through possible deductions like mileage and phone expenses that helped lower the self-employment tax I owed.