Injured Spouse Claim and Allocation Form

Department of the Treasury

Internal Revenue Service

Are You an Injured Spouse?

You are an injured spouse if you file a joint return and all or part of your share of the overpayment was, or is expected to be, applied (offset)

against your spouse’s past-due Federal tax, child or spousal support, Federal nontax debt (such as a student loan) or state income tax.

Complete Form 8379 if all three of the following apply and you want your share of the overpayment shown on the joint return refunded to you.

But if your main home was in a community property state (see line 6 below), you may file Form 8379 if only item 1 below applies.

How Do You File Form 8379?

● If you have already filed the joint tax return, mail Form 8379 by itself to the Internal Revenue Service Center for the place where you lived

when you filed the joint return. See your tax return instruction booklet for the address. Be sure to include copies of all W-2 and W-2G forms of

both spouses and any Forms 1099-R showing income tax withheld. The processing of your claim may be delayed if you do not include these

copies. Please allow at least 8 weeks for the IRS to process your claim.

● If you have not filed your joint return, attach Form 8379 to your return in the order of the attachment sequence number. Enter “Injured

Spouse” in the upper left corner of the return. Because the IRS will process your claim before an offset occurs, filing Form 8379 with your

original return may delay your refund by 6 to 8 weeks.

Information About the Joint Tax Return for Which This Claim Is Filed

Enter the following information exactly as it is shown on the tax return for which you are filing this claim.

The spouse’s name and social security number shown first on that tax return must also be shown first below.

First name, initial, and last name shown first on the return

If Injured Spouse,

check here 

Current home address

Check this box only if you are divorced or separated from the spouse with whom you filed the joint return

and you want your refund issued in your name only

Was your main home in a community property state (Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New

Mexico, Texas, Washington, or Wisconsin) at any time during the year entered on line 2?

If “Yes,” which community property state(s)?

Note: Overpayments involving community property states will be allocated by the IRS according to state law.

Go to Part II on the back.

8379

Part I

1

Social security number shown first If Injured Spouse,

check here 

Social security number shown second

City State ZIP code

3

5

6

Yes No

OMB No. 1545-1210

The time needed to complete and file this form will vary depending on individual circumstances. The estimated average time is:

Recordkeeping, 13 min.; Learning about the law or the form, 10 min.; Preparing the form, 59 min.; and Copying, assembling, and sending

the form to the IRS, 25 min.

If you have comments concerning the accuracy of these time estimates or suggestions for making this form simpler, we would be happy to

hear from you. You can write to the Tax Forms Committee, Western Area Distribution Center, Rancho Cordova, CA 95743-0001. Do not send

the form to this address. Instead, see How Do You File Form 8379? above.

(Rev. December 2002)

Attachment

Sequence No. 104

First name, initial, and last name shown second on the return

Note: If you are filing Form 8379 with your tax return, skip to line 5.

2 Enter the tax year for which you are filing this claim (for example, 2002) ______________

Privacy Act and Paperwork Reduction Act Notice. Our legal right to ask for the information on this form is Internal Revenue Code sections

6001, 6011, 6109, and 6402 and their regulations. You are required to give us the information so that we can process your claim for refund of

your share of an overpayment shown on the joint return with your spouse. We need it to ensure that you are allocating items correctly and to

allow us to figure the correct amount of your claim for refund. If you do not provide all of the information, we may not be able to process your

claim. We may give this information to the Department of Justice for civil and criminal litigation, and to cities, states, and the District of

Columbia to carry out their tax laws. We may also disclose this information to other countries under a tax treaty or to Federal and state agencies

to enforce Federal nontax criminal laws and to combat terrorism.

You are not required to provide the information requested on a form that is subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act unless the form displays

a valid OMB control number. Books or records relating to a form or its instructions must be retained as long as their contents may become

material in the administration of any Internal Revenue law. Generally, tax returns and return information are confidential, as required by Code

section 6103.

4 Is the address on your joint return different from the address shown above? Yes No

Note: The Treasury Department’s Financial Management Service (FMS), not the IRS, is authorized to apply (offset) all or part of the joint refund to

past-due child or spousal support, Federal nontax debt, or state income tax. If you also owe past-due child or spousal support, Federal nontax

debt, or state income tax, the FMS will apply all or part of your share of the refund to the debt. If an offset occurs, you will receive a notice from

the FMS.

Cat. No. 62474Q Form 8379 (Rev. 12-2002)

Do not use this form if you are requesting relief from liability for tax that you believe should be paid only by your spouse (or former spouse).

Instead, file Form 8857, Request for Innocent Spouse Relief.

1. You are not required to pay the past-due amount. 

2. You reported income such as wages, taxable interest, etc. on the joint return.

3. You made and reported payments such as Federal income tax withheld from your wages or estimated tax payments, or you claimed the

earned income credit or other refundable credit, on the joint return. 

● If you later file Form 1040X, Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, requesting an additional refund, you should attach a revised Form

8379 if you want the refund allocated between you and your spouse.
Form 8379 (Rev. 12-2002)

Allocation Between Spouses of Items on the Joint Tax Return

Income. Enter the separate income that each spouse

earned. Allocate joint income, such as interest earned on

a joint bank account, as you determine. But be sure to

allocate all income shown on the joint return.

Wages

All other income. Identify the type and amount 

Adjustments to income. Enter each spouse’s separate

adjustments, such as an IRA deduction. Allocate other

adjustments as you determine

Standard deduction. If you itemized your deductions, go

to line 10. Otherwise, enter in both columns (b) and (c) 1⁄2

of the amount shown in column (a) and go to line 11

Itemized deductions. Enter each spouse’s separate

deductions, such as employee business expenses.

Allocate other deductions as you determine

Number of exemptions. Allocate the exemptions claimed

on the joint return to the spouse who would have claimed

them if separate returns had been filed. Enter whole

numbers only (for example, you cannot allocate 3

exemptions by giving 1.5 exemptions to each spouse)

Credits. Allocate any child tax credit, child and dependent

care credit, and additional child tax credit to the spouse

who was allocated the dependent’s exemption. Do not

include any earned income credit here; the IRS will allocate

it based on each spouse’s income. Allocate business

credits based on each spouse’s interest in the business.

Allocate any other credits as you determine

Other taxes. Allocate self-employment tax to the spouse

who earned the self-employment income. Allocate any

alternative minimum tax as you determine

Federal income tax withheld. Enter Federal income tax

withheld from each spouse’s income as shown on Forms W-2,

W-2G, and 1099-R. Be sure to attach copies of these forms

to your tax return or to Form 8379 if you are filing it by

itself. (Also include on this line any tax withheld on any other

Form 1099 or any excess social security or tier 1 RRTA tax

withheld.)

Payments. Allocate joint estimated tax payments as you

determine

Note: The IRS will figure the amount of any refund due the injured spouse.

Page 2

Part II

7

a

b

9

11

12

13

14

15

Allocated Items (a) Amount shown

on joint return

(b) Allocated to

injured spouse

(c) Allocated to

other spouse

Under penalties of perjury, I declare that I have examined this form and any accompanying schedules or statements and to the best of my knowledge and belief, they

are true, correct, and complete. Declaration of preparer (other than taxpayer) is based on all information of which preparer has any knowledge.

Keep a copy of

this form for

your records

Injured spouse’s signature

Date

Phone number (optional)

Check if

self-employed

Preparer’s

signature

Firm’s name (or yours

if self-employed),

address, and ZIP code

Paid

Preparer’s

Use Only

( )

Preparer’s SSN or PTIN 

EIN

Phone no.

Part III Signature. Complete this part only if you are filing Form 8379 by itself and not with your tax return.

Date

8

10

Form 8379 (Rev. 12-2002)

( )