Tax Traps in Divorce: Navigating Joint Liabilities, IRS Relief, and Financial Fallout
Divorce often uncovers or creates serious tax issues, yet many tax professionals are unaware of the traps lurking in joint returns, IRS collections, and refund offsets. This CPE provides tax professionals with a practical guide to spotting and mitigating IRS-related risks in divorce and support cases. Learn how to protect your clients and prevent long-term financial damage by understanding how the IRS operates behind the scenes. A divorce decree may allocate responsibility for a tax debt between former spouses, but it does not necessarily eliminate either spouse’s liability to the IRS on a joint return.
Taught by Andrew Bosserman, a tax attorney, CPA, and former IRS agent with experience representing taxpayers in federal tax disputes. This course examines innocent spouse relief, separation of liability, equitable relief, injured spouse allocation, filing-status decisions, and practical issues involving unpaid joint tax liabilities.
After completing this course, participants should be able to:
• Identify the filing-status decisions that create or avoid joint and several liability, including when a married client may file as head of household
• Distinguish an understatement, a deficiency, and an underpayment — and match each to the form of relief that can actually reach it
• Recognize when a refund offset calls for an injured spouse claim under §6402, and the deadline for filing Form 8379
• Anticipate the after-tax consequences of a property division under §1041, §121, and the retirement-asset rules — before the agreement is signed
• Evaluate which form of §6015 relief fits a client's facts, and what filing the request will cost them procedurally
Who should Attend:
This course is designed for CPAs, enrolled agents, tax attorneys, tax preparers, divorce financial analysts, family-law attorneys, financial planners, and other professionals who advise clients who are separated, divorcing, or dealing with joint federal tax liabilities.
2 IRS CE Hours
Prerequisites: None
Program Level: Basic
Advanced Preparation: None
Field of Study: Taxes
Location: Virtual
Delivery Method: Group Internet Based
Your Instructor
Andrew Bosserman
Tax Attorney | Former IRS Agent
Andrew Bosserman is a former IRS agent turned IRS defense attorney, and he now defends the business owners he once audited. Andrew founded Boss Tax Law to give taxpayers what they rarely get in tax disputes: an advocate who understands both sides of the table, as well as the human side of dealing with the IRS. He’s also a CPA who has prepared hundreds of tax returns and a small business owner who ran a Christmas tree farm. Andrew lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, with his wife and kids.
All Self-Study courses must be completed by 12/31/2026 to receive IRS CE Credit
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