For Social Security purposes, I was self-employed and had zero income for 10 years. I've been advised to have those years, or most of them, amended by showing I had income from the company (this was done via audit in 2007 by the IRS) and I want to do the rest. My soon to be ex won't sign. How do I proceed to get the signature (all joint returns)? Tax Court? Tax Lawyer? Civil? Interesting point is spouse was non-working owner by DBA & SS# used of the company.

#1;you can file amended your past returns to include your spouse, by assuming you have been married that long, Any year beyond that would be expired for a refund. you need to file as mfj or mfs Unless you are still SINGLE. Once merged together, the IRS will zero out the secondary taxpayer’s information. however, you will not be able to electronically file the amended return. All amended returns must be sumitted by mail, so you would print out a copy of the amended return and file it with the IRS.


As you made a mistake, however, you can go back and fix it. It's far better to voluntarily amend your returns than to suffer an audit if filing wrongly resulted in a tax benefit to you that you didn't deserve.



#2;I do not think so; since your spouse refuses to sign the joint tax returns, there isn’t much you can do without her own consent;even if your spouse is eligible to use an alternative filing status, the IRS will not force her to choose one status over another. As a result, you still have an obligation to file a separate tax return, but you can only use the MFS or HOH filing status. OR I guess you wisely/properly convince her to sing on the joint returns.you can advice her that The MFJ filing status provides more tax benefits than married filing separate filing status; if you and your spouse decide to file a joint return, your tax may be lower than your combined tax for the other filing statuses. Also, your standard deduction UNLESS you itemize deductions may be higher, and you may qualify for tax benefits that do not apply to other filing statuses"

to clarify: I was married all those years that I was self-employed. The taxes were filed each year on the business (her SS & her DBA as a non-worker), but the tax preparer never showed wages or income to me from the business. In 2009 I became disabled, unable to work. Could not receive SS because no credits. Yes, I have a tax preparer to do the amendments and no refunds are involved just FICA to pay with interest for each year I amend. I worked a few years part-time, earning the missing credits and have been granted SSDI. The years lost can be used, from my understanding, to not only increase my SS benefit but to give me instant medi-cal (per a SSDI attorney). But it's "forcing" her to sign since they were joint returns for all those lost years.

Are you saying I can change my filing status for those years to "married separate" and not require her signature? Then she would have to amend hers?

My understanding is I can't change the filing status on those years, only have the amendments done, which won't affect taxes but only "reclasses" some of the business expense to me as income, same as my IRS audit did in 2007.

#1;This is exactly what I thought and as mentioned previously, as your soon to be ex-spouse refuses to sign the joint tax returns, there isn’t much you can do without her own consent;IN CASE; even if she is eligible to use an alternative filing status, the IRS will not force her to choose one status over another.

#2;NOT for those years .I guesss I misinformed you about it. Sorry for that. My bad.In general, there are a few things to keep in mind when amending your filing status;as you know, you and your spouse can change your filing status from separate to joint anytime within 3 years from the due date of the separate returns while after you file a joint return, you cannot file separate returns after the due date for that return has passed. So,Once you file your returns jointly you cannot amend to any other status after the due date including extension I guess.Only in cases where one spouse is deceased can the surviving spouse change the filing status from joint to separate.



#3;Correct;you usually 1040X to correct previously filed Forms or the changes involve another schedule or form that you must attach to the amended return(s) mor etc..
however,this is not your case as you are not subject to refunds, your tax amendment for refund has to be filed within 3 years of the date the original tax return was due, or within 2 years of the date you paid the tax, whichever is later.