If she files taxes and her social has been flagged, then they will take whatever refund she is owed to pay for the back child support. However, if her husband files an injured spouse relief form, then the IRS can only take from her portion of whatever refund they are to get. If her social has not been flagged then nothing will happen. You should call the office of child support to make sure that they have done so.

Our child support enforcement office did confirm she has been notified of the offset. What is the injured spouse claim.?

How would they qualify for that?

Her husband is not responsible for paying the back child support. Therefore, there is a form that he can fill out to send in with his taxes. It states that he is not part of the debt and doesn't want them to touch his money because of said debt. That's the idea of it anyway. If he knows about the form and files it then you probably won't see any money. Or not much money anyway. Sometimes people don't fill out the form because they don't know it's an option, and other times they decide that they want the money taken out so that they don't have to worry about that back support anymore.

They qualify for it if all of the income on the tax return is his, and he files as an injured spouse. You can find the form here: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8379.pdf.

This is allowed by the IRS so that people who don't owe money, aren't made to pay for another taxpayer's debts. If all the income on their joint return is his, all of the tax refund would be his as well, and he is not responsible for her debts.

Thank-you