Please help - low-income married couple in San Francisco, California needs tax advice?

Hi everyone,

Together we gross less than $75K, we don%26#039;t own property, we have three children together, and I have a son from a previous marriage, to which I pay child support.

We want to file jointly in order to benefit from the Child Tax Credit, but because our returns are fairly simple, we would like to save some money by e-filing at home as well as not having to worry about my wife losing her refund due to my child support.

Do we need to include form 8379 (Injured Spouse) in order to make sure my wife receives her refund, and if so, what kind of a delay does that create by e-filing? Will we still be eligible for the 2008 rebate check? Is there anything else we should do to maximize our return?

Thank you in advance for your time and knowledge!

Please help - low-income married couple in San Francisco, California needs tax advice?

Sounds like you have too many issues for you to handle and file on your own. If you owe past due child support, there is no way for your refund to be safe, esp if filing jointly.

To make the most of this, I suggest going to an accountant. H and R block does things cheap, esp if they can get more money back for you.

Please help - low-income married couple in San Francisco, California needs tax advice?

You stated you are paying your child support. If you are paying your child support and current on the child support there is no reason to file the injured spouse form.

Please help - low-income married couple in San Francisco, California needs tax advice?

Hello, There are a # of sites to use...To pick a good one go to IRS site..they will provide list for you to choose from...Depending on how you file...it may be FREE...FIRST....You might want to get 2 of each...1040..1040A...and ez ...fill them out several ways just to see which is better...joint...head of household...or joint filing separate....then you can go on-line ...fill out the one (or more if deciding to file separate) on-line that provided best $ return on paper....DO direct deposit...you will get it faster...You will automatically get child tax credit no matter how you file...that credit goes by how much you make... that is why it is better to get paper ones...fill them out with both you together then separate...also you might be able to get more earned income credit...filing separate...yes on the 2008 rebate ck...everyone under $ amount...even if didn%26#039;t need to pay any tax... is eligible...Why would wife be concerned about not receiving hers...garnishment?...school loans...judgements?...otherwise it should be no problem... God Bless!!...Mary

Please help - low-income married couple in San Francisco, California needs tax advice?

You state that you%26#039;re paying child support. That shouldn%26#039;t have any effect at all on your tax status ... millions of parents all over the country are doing the same thing.

If what you actually mean is that you are in *arrears* on your child support payments and that your tax return might be intercepted by the IRS to pay those back payments -- then yes, your wife definitely should file the Injured Spouse form. This will protect the amount of the refund that%26#039;s due to her income from being taken by the IRS, but would allow them to take the portion of the refund that%26#039;s attributable to you.

Since you weren%26#039;t too clear in your original post, I can%26#039;t give you any more specific advice.

Please help - low-income married couple in San Francisco, California needs tax advice?

Filing the injured spouse form will take up to 6-8 weeks to process.

If you file as married filing separately, you still get the child tax credit, but not a child CARE credit, education credit, or many others.

Rebate check - if your refund is offset for child support, your rebate most likely would be also.