Your client divorced in November 2025 and her ex still owes back taxes from their joint years. The 2024 joint refund just got offset for his unpaid student loans. Three different reliefs, three different forms, all keyed to one December-31 status rule.
Status is fixed on the last day of the tax year. Married on December 31 means married all year. Divorced or under a decree of separate maintenance on December 31 means unmarried all year. An annulment treats the marriage as never having existed; amended returns go back for all open years.
Recognized federally if the state of current domicile recognizes it, or if the marriage was validly contracted in a state that does. Currently recognizing states include Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Texas, Utah, and DC. A recognized common-law marriage carries every federal consequence: MFJ, spousal IRA, §1041 transfers, gift-splitting. Same-sex marriages are recognized federally regardless of residence (Rev. Rul. 2013-17). Civil unions and registered domestic partnerships are NOT marriages for federal tax purposes; partners file as single or HoH.
Common mistakes
- Treating post-2018 alimony as deductible. TCJA's repeal is permanent; instruments after 12/31/2018 create $0 deduction and $0 income.
- Using HoH while still married without meeting all five "considered unmarried" tests. Failing the last-6-months-apart test alone forces MFJ or MFS.
- Filing Form 8379 (injured) when the issue is a tax error on a joint return; that requires Form 8857 (innocent). Wrong form means no relief.
Bottom line
- Marital status is fixed on December 31: married then means married all year; a decree dated 12/31 makes a taxpayer unmarried all year
- §1041 makes spousal transfers (and those incident to divorce within 1 year, or pursuant to instrument within 6 years) fully nonrecognition with carryover basis
- Post-2018 alimony: not deductible by payer, not taxable to recipient. Pre-2019 alimony: deductible above-the-line and taxable. Child support is never deductible or taxable
- MFJ creates joint and several liability; MFS shields liability but disqualifies EITC, education credits, dependent care credit, and student-loan interest
Exam shortcut
Date the instrument first. Alimony question hinges on whether the instrument was executed after 12/31/2018 (or modified post-2018 to adopt TCJA treatment). Yes = both deduction and income are zero. No = run the seven alimony tests. Refund grabbed = 8379 (injured). Liability shared = 8857 (innocent). Offset of a refund is injured; deficiency assessed against both spouses is innocent. HoH-while-married mnemonic: APART, MFS, CHILD, COST, CLAIM.
The full lesson (about 2,314 words, 15 min read) adds 2 worked examples, all 6 common mistakes, a self-check, free in the app.
Learning objectives
- 1
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