Uncooperative spouse and form 8958 - help with community property tax filing when ex won't respond

But won't the IRS come after them if the spouse isn't properly reporting income on their side? I'm in almost the same situation except we're officially divorced now, but our final year of marriage was a nightmare for taxes. Would filing an extension help buy some time to get the info?

The IRS is primarily concerned with you accurately reporting your own income and paying the correct amount of tax. They won't penalize you for your spouse's failure to cooperate if you've made reasonable efforts to comply. Filing an extension could help buy time, but remember an extension only gives you more time to file the forms - any taxes owed are still due by the original deadline. If you think you might owe, you should make an estimated payment when you file the extension to avoid potential penalties and interest.

Does that service help with regular tax filing too? I'm in a community property state but getting divorced and I have no clue what I'll need to do for next year's taxes. Does it give specific advice for your state? Because I know community property laws vary state to state.

I'm skeptical about these tax AI things. How does it know about your specific situation with your ex? Seems like real tax problems need real tax professionals not some computer guessing.

Yes, it handles regular tax filing too! It's actually designed as a complete tax solution, but what impressed me was how it knew exactly what to do with my community property situation. It asks which state you're in and tailors advice specifically to your state's laws. For example, it knew the differences between California and Texas community property rules. The AI doesn't just guess - it analyzes tax law and IRS guidance. It has a database of IRS publications, tax court cases, and state-specific rules. I was skeptical too until I saw how it referenced specific IRS guidance about uncooperative spouses in community property states. It's not replacing professionals, but using the same references they would to apply rules to your situation.

Wait, how does this actually work? They somehow jump the queue at the IRS? That seems impossible with how backed up the phone lines are...

Sorry but this sounds sketchy. You're telling me there's a magical service that can get through to the IRS when nobody else can? I've been calling for weeks about my amended return and can never get through. If this actually worked, wouldn't everyone be using it?

It doesn't jump the queue - they use an automated system that continuously redials and navigates the IRS phone tree until it gets through. Then when a human IRS agent answers, they call you and connect you directly. It's basically doing the tedious redial work for you. The reason everyone doesn't use it is simply because many people don't know about it yet. The IRS phone system is notorious, especially during tax season. What this service does isn't magic - it's just automating the frustrating process of waiting on hold and navigating the phone tree that most of us don't have the time or patience for.

Form 8379 is completely different - it's for when you filed jointly and want to get your portion of a refund that was taken to pay your spouse's past-due federal debt (like back taxes or child support). It won't help in this community property situation where you need to file the 8958. Your accountant might have been thinking of Form 8857 (Innocent Spouse Relief) but even that's for different circumstances - when you filed jointly and want relief from tax liability for something your spouse didn't report correctly.

Thanks for clearing that up! I must have misunderstood what my accountant was suggesting. This tax stuff gets so confusing with all these different form numbers. I think I'll stick with the approach of filing Form 8958 with just my information and noting that my spouse wouldn't cooperate. Feels like the cleanest approach.

Which states allow this legal separation status to change the community property tax treatment? I'm in Washington state and considering this option.

Legal separation that affects community property for tax purposes is recognized in Washington, California, Nevada, and Arizona from my research. In Idaho, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, and Wisconsin, it's more complicated. The key is getting a court-ordered decree of legal separation, not just living separately. Once that's in place, income you earn after the legal separation date is typically considered separate property, which can simplify your tax situation enormously. Definitely worth looking into if you're in Washington state!

Thank you so much for sharing your experience! That's exactly what I needed to hear - someone who's actually been through this. I feel so much better knowing the IRS didn't give you trouble about it. I was having nightmares about getting audited or something. I'm going to go ahead and file with just my information and note that he refused to provide his. Did you have any issues with state taxes doing it this way too?

For state taxes, I did the same thing - noted "information not available" for my ex's sections. My state (California) never questioned it either. Just remember that each state handles community property a bit differently, so if you're not in California, you might want to check your state's specific guidance. The most important thing is documenting that you TRIED to get the information. Keep copies of texts, emails, etc. where you asked for the tax info. I never needed to provide this documentation, but better safe than sorry!

This is really helpful advice about documenting everything! I'm dealing with a similar situation but in Texas, and I've been keeping screenshots of my unanswered texts and emails to my ex about needing their tax info. It's good to know that approach worked for you in Nevada. One question - when you wrote "spouse unresponsive to requests for information" on the form, did you put that in every section where their info was supposed to go, or did you write it once somewhere and reference it? I'm trying to figure out the cleanest way to handle the actual form completion. Also, did you end up owing more taxes by filing separately instead of jointly? I'm worried about losing out on deductions or credits by not filing together, but obviously that's not an option when they won't cooperate.

For the form completion, I wrote "spouse unresponsive to requests for information" in the first section that required their info, and then for subsequent sections I just wrote "see above" or "N/A - spouse unresponsive." This kept it clean without being repetitive across every single line. Regarding taxes owed - yes, I did end up owing a bit more by filing separately, mainly because I couldn't claim certain credits that require joint filing. But honestly, the peace of mind was worth it. I was able to file on time without the stress of chasing down someone who clearly didn't want to cooperate. One thing that helped offset some of the tax difference was that I could claim head of household status since I had custody of our kids most of the time. If you have dependents and meet the requirements, that might help reduce the impact of filing separately. The IRS has pretty clear guidelines on when you can use head of household even if you're technically still married.