IRC 6015: Three Types of Innocent Spouse Tax Relief

If your spouse or ex-spouse caused a tax problem on a joint return, innocent spouse relief under Internal Revenue Code Section 6015 can get you off the hook for all or part of the debt. When you sign a joint return, the IRS can pursue either spouse for the full amount, even if only one of you earned the income or made the error. Section 6015 provides three ways out: Traditional Innocent Spouse Relief, Separation of Liability, and Equitable Relief. You request all three on the same form, but each has its own eligibility rules and its own deadline.¹

Traditional Relief When You Didn’t Know

Traditional Innocent Spouse Relief under Section 6015(b) is the cleanest outcome. If you qualify, you owe nothing on the portion of the tax tied to your spouse’s error. It applies when a joint return understated the tax because your spouse did something wrong, such as hiding income or claiming deductions they weren’t entitled to.¹

You have to show four things: a joint return was filed, the understatement came from your spouse’s erroneous item, you didn’t know and had no reason to know about it when you signed, and holding you responsible would be unfair.

The “reason to know” element is where most of these claims are decided. The IRS looks at your education, how involved you were in family finances, the size of the omitted item compared with the rest of the return, and whether you got a real benefit from the understatement. A spouse whose business income appears to double while household spending stays flat looks different from one whose family suddenly starts taking luxury vacations.²

Separation of Liability If You’ve Split Up

Separation of Liability under Section 6015(c) doesn’t erase the debt. It divides the deficiency between you and your spouse based on whose income and deductions caused it, so you become responsible only for your share.³

You can only request this option if, at the time you file, you are divorced or legally separated from the spouse you filed the return with, widowed, or have lived apart from that spouse for the entire 12 months before filing.

The knowledge standard is easier than under Traditional relief. The IRS has to prove you had actual knowledge of the erroneous item when you signed the return. Having a “reason to know” isn’t enough to disqualify you. Relief is still denied if assets were transferred between spouses as part of a fraudulent scheme.¹

One limit matters a lot: Separation of Liability cannot generate a refund. It can only reduce a balance you still owe. Money you’ve already paid on the allocated portion stays with the IRS.¹

Equitable Relief for Everything Else

Equitable Relief under Section 6015(f) is the fallback and the only route in one common situation: a joint return that was accurate but never paid. If your spouse filed a correct return and then spent the money that was supposed to go to the IRS, Traditional and Separation of Liability won’t help you. Equitable Relief will.¹

The IRS decides these requests under Revenue Procedure 2013-34, weighing factors that include your current marital status, whether paying the debt would create economic hardship, whether abuse or financial control affected your ability to question the return, what you knew or should have known, whether you got a significant benefit from the unpaid tax beyond normal support, and whether you’ve been compliant on your own returns since.⁴

Economic hardship carries real weight. If your income is below 250% of the federal poverty guidelines for your household size, the factor generally favors you.⁵ Even above that income line, you can still qualify if your monthly income barely covers your basic living expenses.⁴

Abuse changes the analysis. Actual knowledge of an error usually weighs heavily against relief, but if you signed under threat, duress, or coercive financial control, the IRS can override that factor and grant relief anyway. Protective orders, medical records, and police reports are the kinds of evidence the IRS will consider.⁴

Deadlines Depend on Which Type You’re Requesting

Miss the deadline and you lose the claim, so identify which one applies before anything else.

Traditional relief and Separation of Liability both must be requested within two years after the IRS first tries to collect the tax from you. The clock starts when the IRS offsets your refund against the joint debt, sends a notice of intent to levy, or files a notice of federal tax lien.⁶

Equitable Relief runs on a longer clock. Since 2011, the two-year rule doesn’t apply. For a tax you still owe, you generally have until the IRS’s collection period ends, which is usually ten years from assessment. For a tax you’ve already paid and want back, you have to file within the standard refund period: three years from when the return was filed or two years from when the tax was paid, whichever is later.⁷

How to File Form 8857

IRS Form 8857, Request for Innocent Spouse Relief, covers all three types. Check the type you’re requesting and let the IRS decide which one you actually qualify for if you’re unsure. The form asks about your marriage, finances, and knowledge of the return, but the form alone rarely wins the case.⁸

Attach documentation that supports your story:

Copies of the joint returns for the tax years at issue
Divorce decrees, separation agreements, or court orders that assign the tax debt
Statements from third parties who can confirm your spouse controlled finances or hid income
Bank statements, pay stubs, and monthly expense records if you’re claiming hardship
Police reports, protective orders, or medical records if abuse is a factor

Send Form 8857 and attachments by mail to the IRS in Covington, Kentucky, or by fax to 855-233-8558. Don’t attach it to your tax return, and don’t send it to the Tax Court. Electronic filing is not available for this form as of 2026. Keep copies of everything, because the IRS doesn’t return original documents.⁹

What Happens After You File

Filing Form 8857 generally halts levies, bank account seizures, and judicial collection actions against you while the claim is under review. The IRS has also adopted a policy of not offsetting refunds during this window. The pause holds until the IRS issues a final determination, the 90-day Tax Court window closes, or a Tax Court decision becomes final.¹⁰

The IRS is required by law to notify your spouse or former spouse that you’ve filed and to let them participate. There are no exceptions, even where domestic violence is involved. The IRS will not disclose your current address, phone number, employer, or financial details, but if safety is a concern, redact personal information from your attachments before sending them.¹¹

If the IRS denies your claim, you have 90 days from the date of the final determination letter to petition the U.S. Tax Court. You can also petition the Tax Court if the IRS doesn’t decide within six months of your filing.¹² The 90-day window is jurisdictional; filing one day late usually forfeits judicial review. Since the Taxpayer First Act of 2019, the Tax Court primarily reviews the administrative record rather than holding a fresh trial, so put your strongest evidence in front of the IRS the first time.¹

Getting Money Back

Relief doesn’t automatically produce a refund. Under Traditional relief or Equitable Relief, you can recover taxes you already paid, but only if you file within the standard refund limitations period: three years from when the return was filed or two years from when the tax was paid, whichever is later. Under Separation of Liability, no refund is available at any point. That relief can only shrink a balance still owed.¹

Innocent Spouse Is Not Injured Spouse

These two programs are often confused, and filing the wrong one costs months. Innocent spouse relief on Form 8857 is about a tax liability you shouldn’t owe because your spouse caused an error or failed to pay. Injured spouse relief on Form 8379 is about protecting your share of a joint refund from being seized to cover your spouse’s separate debts, such as past-due child support, defaulted student loans, or a tax debt from before the marriage.¹³

If the IRS grabbed your joint refund to pay your spouse’s old student loans, you need Form 8379. If your spouse hid freelance income and now you’re both looking at a $15,000 assessment, that’s Form 8857.

Community Property States

Section 6015 tells the IRS to make relief determinations “without regard to community property laws,” so living in California, Texas, Arizona, or another community property state won’t block you from qualifying.¹ Courts have read this override narrowly. It applies to the eligibility decision, not to downstream questions like refund calculations or which assets can be reached for any remaining debt. If you’re in a community property state, get advice before filing.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6015 – Relief From Joint and Several Liability on Joint Return
2
Internal Revenue Service. IRM 25.15.3 – Technical Provisions of IRC 6015
3
Internal Revenue Service. Separation of Liability Relief
4
Internal Revenue Service. Revenue Procedure 2013-34
5
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 2026 Poverty Guidelines
6
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8857 – Request for Innocent Spouse Relief
7
Internal Revenue Service. Notice 2011-70
8
Internal Revenue Service. About Form 8857, Request for Innocent Spouse Relief
9
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8857
10
Internal Revenue Service. IRM 25.15.8 – Revenue Officer Procedures for Working Innocent Spouse Cases
11
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 971 – Innocent Spouse Relief
12
Internal Revenue Service. Appeal an Innocent Spouse Determination
13
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8379