Wife is working, when we filed our taxes, the whole refund was taken.

Q) My current wife is working and when we filed our taxes, the whole refund was taken.

A) If your refund was taken due to your child support arrears, it means that you owe past-due child support payments. The federal government has the authority to take tax refunds to pay off child support arrears.

If you believe that the amount taken from your tax refund was incorrect, you can contact your state’s child support agency to request an accounting of your payments and to dispute any errors. It’s also important to keep up with your child support payments to avoid accruing arrears in the future.

If you and your current wife filed a joint tax return, and the refund was taken due to your child support arrears, your current wife may be eligible for an injured spouse allocation. This means that she can apply to get her portion of the refund back, since she is not responsible for your child support arrears. You can contact the IRS or a tax professional for more information on how to apply for an injured spouse allocation.

NOTE: If a couple filed a joint return and only one of them is liable for child support payments, in non-community property states the other spouse can file an amended return to receive his or her share of the tax refund. The person who is not responsible for the child support debt can file tax Form 8379, the Injured Spouse Claim and Allocation. Follow the instructions on Form 8379 carefully and provide the required documents.