Sale of Jointly-Owned Property

If you sell property that you and your spouse own jointly, you must report your share of the recognized gain or loss on your income tax return for the year of the sale. Your share of the gain or loss is determined by your state law governing ownership of property. For information on reporting gain or loss, get Publication 544.

Sale of home.   If you sold your main home, you may be able to exclude up to $250,000 (up to $500,000 if you and your spouse file a joint return) of gain on the sale. For more information, see Publication 523, Selling Your Home.

Costs of Getting a Divorce

You cannot deduct legal fees and court costs for getting a divorce. But you may be able to deduct legal fees paid for tax advice in connection with a divorce and legal fees to get alimony. In addition, you may be able to deduct fees you pay to appraisers, actuaries, and accountants for services in determining your correct tax or in helping to get alimony.

Fees you pay may include charges that are deductible and charges that are not deductible. You should request a breakdown showing the amount charged for each service performed.

You can claim deductible fees only if you itemize deductions on Schedule A (Form 1040). Claim them as miscellaneous itemized deductions subject to the 2%-of-adjusted-gross-income limit. For more information, get Publication 529, Miscellaneous Deductions.

Fees for tax advice.   You can deduct fees for advice on federal, state, and local taxes of all types, including income, estate, gift, inheritance, and property taxes.

If a fee is also for other services, you must determine and prove the expense for tax advice. The following examples show how you can meet this requirement.

Example 1.   The lawyer handling your divorce consults another law firm, which handles only tax matters, to get information on how the divorce will affect your taxes. You can deduct the part of the fee paid over to the second firm and separately stated on your bill, subject to the 2% limit.

Example 2.   The lawyer handling your divorce uses the firm's tax department for tax matters related to your divorce. Your statement from the firm shows the part of the total fee for tax matters. This is based on the time used, the difficulty of the tax questions, and the amount of tax involved. You can deduct this part of your bill, subject to the 2% limit.

Example 3.   The lawyer handling your divorce also works on the tax matters. The fee for tax advice and the fee for other services are shown on the lawyer's statement. They are based on the time spent on each service and the fees charged locally for similar services. You can deduct the fee charged for tax advice, subject to the 2% limit.

Fees for getting alimony.   Because you must include alimony you receive in your gross income, you can deduct fees you pay to get or collect alimony.

Example.   You pay your attorney a fee for handling your divorce and an additional fee that is for services in getting and collecting alimony. You can deduct the fee for getting and collecting alimony, subject to the 2% limit, if it is separately stated on your attorney's bill.

Nondeductible expenses.   You cannot deduct the costs of personal advice, counseling, or legal action in a divorce. These costs are not deductible, even if they are paid, in part, to arrive at a financial settlement or to protect income-producing property.

However, you can add certain legal fees you pay specifically for a property settlement to the basis of the property you receive. For example, you can add the cost of preparing and filing a deed to put title to your house in your name alone to the basis of the house.

You cannot deduct fees you pay for your spouse or former spouse, unless your payments qualify as alimony. (See Payments to a third party in the earlier discussion of the general rules for alimony.) If you have no legal responsibility arising from the divorce settlement or decree to pay your spouse's legal fees, your payments are gifts and may be subject to the gift tax.

Tax Withholding and Estimated Tax

When you become divorced or separated, you will usually have to file a new Form W-4, Employee's Withholding Allowance Certificate, with your employer to claim your proper withholding allowances. If you receive alimony, you may have to make estimated tax payments.

If you do not pay enough tax either through withholding or by making estimated tax payments, you will have an underpayment of estimated tax and you may have to pay a penalty. If you do not pay enough tax by the due date of each payment, you may have to pay a penalty even if you are due a refund when you file your tax return.

For more information, get Publication 505, Tax Withholding and Estimated Tax.

Joint estimated tax payments.   If you and your spouse made joint estimated tax payments for 2002 but file separate returns, either of you can claim all of your payments, or you can divide them in any way on which you both agree. If you cannot agree, you must divide the payments in proportion to your individual tax amounts as shown on your separate returns for 2002.

If you claim any of the payments on your tax return, enter your spouse's or former spouse's social security number in the space provided on the front of Form 1040 or Form 1040A. If you were divorced and remarried in 2002, enter your present spouse's social security number in that space. Also enter your former spouse's social security number, followed by DIV to the left of line 63, Form 1040, or line 40, Form 1040A.

Community Property

If you are married and your domicile (permanent legal home) is in a community property state, special rules determine your income. Some of these rules are explained in the following discussions. For more information, get Publication 555.

Community property states.   The community property states are:

• Arizona,
• California,
• Idaho,
• Louisiana,
• Nevada,
• New Mexico,
• Texas,
• Washington, and
• Wisconsin.

Community Income

If your domicile is in a community property state during any part of your tax year, you may have community income. Your state law determines whether your income is separate or community income. If you and your spouse file separate returns, you must report half of any income described by state law as community income, and your spouse must report the other half. Each of you can claim credit for half the income tax withheld from community income.

Community property laws disregarded.   Community property laws do not apply to an item of community income, and you will be responsible for reporting all of it if:

1. You treat the item as if only you are entitled to the income, and
2. You do not notify your spouse of the nature and amount of the income by the due date for filing the return (including extensions).

Relief from separate return liability for community income.   You are not responsible for reporting an item of community income if all of the following conditions exist.

1. You do not file a joint return for the tax year.
2. You do not include an item of community income in gross income on your separate return.
3. You establish that you did not know of, and had no reason to know of, that community income.
4. Under all facts and circumstances, it would not be fair to include the item of community income in your gross income.

Requesting relief.   For information on how to request relief from separate return liability, see Community Property Laws in Publication 971.

Spousal agreements.   In some states a husband and wife may enter into an agreement that affects the status of property or income as community or separate property. Check your state law to determine how it affects you.

Spouses Living Apart All Year

Special rules apply if all the following conditions exist.

1. You and your spouse live apart all year.
2. You and your spouse do not file a joint return for a tax year beginning or ending in the calendar year.
3. You or your spouse has earned income for the calendar year that is community income.
4. You and your spouse have not transferred, directly or indirectly, any of the earned income in (3) between yourselves before the end of the year. Do not take into account transfers satisfying child support obligations or transfers of very small amounts or value.

If all these conditions exist, you and your spouse must report your community income as explained in the following discussions.

Earned income.   Treat earned income that is not trade or business or partnership income as the income of the spouse who performed the services to earn the income. Earned income is wages, salaries, professional fees, and other pay for personal services.

Earned income does not include amounts paid by a corporation that are a distribution of earnings and profits rather than a reasonable allowance for personal services rendered.

Trade or business income.   Treat income and related deductions from a trade or business that is not a partnership as those of the spouse carrying on the trade or business.

If capital investment and personal services both produce business income, treat all of the income as trade or business income.

Partnership income or loss.   Treat income or loss from a trade or business carried on by a partnership as the income or loss of the spouse who is the partner.

Separate property income.   Treat income from the separate property of one spouse as the income of that spouse.

Social security benefits.   Treat social security and equivalent railroad retirement benefits as the income of the spouse who receives the benefits.

Other income.   Treat all other community income, such as dividends, interest, rents, royalties, or gains, as provided under your state's community property law.

Example.   George and Sharon were married throughout the year but did not live together at any time during the year. Both domiciles were in a community property state. They did not file a joint return or transfer any of their earned income between themselves. During the year their incomes were as follows:

	George	Sharon
Wages	$20,000	$22,000
Consulting business	5,000
Partnership		10,000
Dividends from separate property	1,000	2,000
Interest from community property	500	500
Totals	$26,500	$34,500

Under the community property law of their state, all the income is considered community income. (Some states treat income from separate property as separate income - check your state law.) Sharon did not take part in George's consulting business.

Ordinarily, they would each report $30,500, half the total community income, on their separate returns. But because they meet the four conditions listed earlier under Spouses Living Apart All Year, they must disregard community property law in reporting all their income except the interest income from community property. They each report on their returns only their own earnings and other income, and their share of the interest income from community property. George reports $26,500 and Sharon reports $34,500.

Ending the Community

When the marital community ends, the community assets (money and property) are divided between the spouses. Income received before the community ended is treated according to the rules explained earlier. Income received after the community ended is separate income, taxable only to the spouse to whom it belongs.

An absolute decree of divorce or annulment ends the community in all community property states. A decree of annulment, even though it holds that no valid marriage ever existed, usually does not nullify community property rights arising during the marriage. However, you should check your state law for exceptions.

A decree of legal separation or of separate maintenance may or may not end the community. The court issuing the decree may terminate the community and divide the property between the spouses.

A separation agreement may divide the community property between you and your spouse. It may provide that this property, along with future earnings and property acquired, will be separate property. This agreement may end the community.

In some states, the community ends when the spouses permanently separate, even if there is no formal agreement. Check your state law.

Alimony (Community Income)

Payments that may otherwise qualify as alimony are not deductible by the payer if they are the recipient spouse's part of community income. They are deductible as alimony only to the extent they are more than that spouse's part of community income.

Example.   You live in a community property state. You are separated but the special rules explained earlier under Spouses Living Apart All Year do not apply. Under a written agreement, you pay your spouse $12,000 of your $20,000 total yearly community income. Your spouse receives no other community income. Under your state law, earnings of a spouse living separately and apart from the other spouse continue as community property.

On your separate returns, each of you must report $10,000 of the total community income. In addition, your spouse must report $2,000 as alimony received. You can deduct $2,000 as alimony paid.

How To Get Tax Help

You can get help with unresolved tax issues, order free publications and forms, ask tax questions, and get more information from the IRS in several ways. By selecting the method that is best for you, you will have quick and easy access to tax help.

Contacting your Taxpayer Advocate.   If you have attempted to deal with an IRS problem unsuccessfully, you should contact your Taxpayer Advocate.

The Taxpayer Advocate represents your interests and concerns within the IRS by protecting your rights and resolving problems that have not been fixed through normal channels. While Taxpayer Advocates cannot change the tax law or make a technical tax decision, they can clear up problems that resulted from previous contacts and ensure that your case is given a complete and impartial review.

To contact your Taxpayer Advocate:

• Call the Taxpayer Advocate at
  1-877-777-4778.
• Call, write, or fax the Taxpayer Advocate office in your area.
• Call 1-800-829-4059 if you are a
  TTY/TDD user.

For more information, see Publication 1546, The Taxpayer Advocate Service of the IRS.

Free tax services.   To find out what services are available, get Publication 910, Guide to Free Tax Services. It contains a list of free tax publications and an index of tax topics. It also describes other free tax information services, including tax education and assistance programs and a list of TeleTax topics.

Personal computer. With your personal computer and modem, you can access the IRS on the Internet at www.irs.gov. While visiting our web site, you can:

• See answers to frequently asked tax questions or request help by e-mail.
• Download forms and publications or search for forms and publications by topic or keyword.
• Order IRS products on-line.
• View forms that may be filled in electronically, print the completed form, and then save the form for recordkeeping.
• View Internal Revenue Bulletins published in the last few years.
• Search regulations and the Internal Revenue Code.
• Receive our electronic newsletters on hot tax issues and news.
• Learn about the benefits of filing electronically (IRS e-file).
• Get information on starting and operating a small business.

You can also reach us with your computer using File Transfer Protocol at ftp.irs.gov.

TaxFax Service. Using the phone attached to your fax machine, you can receive forms and instructions by calling 703-368-9694. Follow the directions from the prompts. When you order forms, enter the catalog number for the form you need. The items you request will be faxed to you.

For help with transmission problems, call the FedWorld Help Desk at 703-487-4608.

Phone. Many services are available by phone.

• Ordering forms, instructions, and publications. Call 1-800-829-3676 to order current and prior year forms, instructions, and publications.
• Asking tax questions. Call the IRS with your tax questions at 1-800-829-1040.
• Solving problems. Take advantage of Everyday Tax Solutions service by calling your local IRS office to set up an in-person appointment at your convenience. Check your local directory assistance or www.irs.gov for the numbers.
• TTY/TDD equipment. If you have access to TTY/TDD equipment, call 1-800-829- 4059 to ask tax questions or to order forms and publications.
• TeleTax topics. Call 1-800-829-4477 to listen to pre-recorded messages covering various tax topics.

Evaluating the quality of our telephone services. To ensure that IRS representatives give accurate, courteous, and professional answers, we use several methods to evaluate the quality of our telephone services. One method is for a second IRS representative to sometimes listen in on or record telephone calls. Another is to ask some callers to complete a short survey at the end of the call.

Walk-in. Many products and services are available on a walk-in basis.

• Products. You can walk in to many post offices, libraries, and IRS offices to pick up certain forms, instructions, and publications. Some IRS offices, libraries, grocery stores, copy centers, city and county governments, credit unions, and office supply stores have an extensive collection of products available to print from a CD-ROM or photocopy from reproducible proofs. Also, some IRS offices and libraries have the Internal Revenue Code, regulations, Internal Revenue Bulletins, and Cumulative Bulletins available for research purposes.
• Services. You can walk in to your local IRS office to ask tax questions or get help with a tax problem. Now you can set up an appointment by calling your local IRS office number and, at the prompt, leaving a message requesting Everyday Tax Solutions help. A representative will call you back within 2 business days to schedule an in-person appointment at your convenience.

Mail. You can send your order for forms, instructions, and publications to the Distribution Center nearest to you and receive a response within 10 workdays after your request is received. Find the address that applies to your part of the country.

• Western part of U.S.:
  Western Area Distribution Center
  Rancho Cordova, CA 95743-0001
• Central part of U.S.:
  Central Area Distribution Center
  P.O. Box 8903
  Bloomington, IL 61702-8903
• Eastern part of U.S. and foreign addresses:
  Eastern Area Distribution Center
  P.O. Box 85074
  Richmond, VA 23261-5074

CD-ROM for tax products. You can order IRS Publication 1796, Federal Tax Products on CD-ROM, and obtain:

• Current tax forms, instructions, and publications.
• Prior-year tax forms and instructions.
• Popular tax forms that may be filled in electronically, printed out for submission, and saved for recordkeeping.
• Internal Revenue Bulletins.

The CD-ROM can be purchased from National Technical Information Service (NTIS) by calling 1-877-233-6767 or on the Internet at http://www.irs.gov/cdorders. The first release is available in early January and the final release is available in late February.

CD-ROM for small businesses. IRS Publication 3207, Small Business Resource Guide, is a must for every small business owner or any taxpayer about to start a business. This handy, interactive CD contains all the business tax forms, instructions and publications needed to successfully manage a business. In addition, the CD provides an abundance of other helpful information, such as how to prepare a business plan, finding financing for your business, and much more. The design of the CD makes finding information easy and quick and incorporates file formats and browsers that can be run on virtually any desktop or laptop computer.

It is available in March. You can get a free copy by calling 1-800-829-3676 or by visiting the website at www.irs.gov/smallbiz.

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