“head of household, which is what we had been filing because we weren’t married yet”

What year(s) are you talking about? It’s critical to know if any years were for 2004 or earlier and which years were 2005 and before you were married and when exactly did you get married.

For a few years (ending in 2004) the IRS allowed boyfriends to claim their girlfriend’s children as “foster children” for HOH purposes, but not for EIC purposes. (For EIC purposes, the child had to be legally placed in the home by an agency.) Starting in 2005, the boyfriend could claim the children as “Qualifying Relatives” if the girlfriend had virtually no income (for 2007, this was less than $3400 of wages) or didn’t live in the home at all. By providing financial support to children who lived in his home all year, the boyfriend could claim them as “other.” Not foster child, not child, not stepchild, not neice and not nephew. “Qualifying Relative” would get the boyfriend an exemption on the tax return (less income, less tax), but never HOH, EIC or child tax credit. Once you were married, if he didn’t qualify for HOH, his only valid choice was MFS for MFJ with you. On the MFS return, there is no EIC. Once married, on the MFS return, he could claim them, but not for EIC purposes.

Secondly, the IRS generally allows married couples to amend separate tax returns into a joint return for up to 3 years. You may be able to file an MFJ return (merging your income into the return) and reduce the damage a little bit. (It would help if you stated what your income was and what his income was.)

Assuming you are currently married, his choices of filing status are married filing a joint return or married filing separately. You didn’t mention anything about working yourself or filing yourself. It’s almost always better (lower tax) to file jointly whether both people are working or only one.

If he files as married filing separately, then your back debts won’t affect him, only his, so no extra forms are needed. If you file a joint return, he’d need to file an injured spouse form (not an innocent spouse form – that’s something totally different) and only your share, if any, of the refund would be taken.

Stepchildren are treated taxwise just like biological children. So if you are legally married, then either way he files, he could claim the children, and if he meets all of the requirements for EIC, then should still be able to get it.

Call your local library and see if they have computers and printers available – they propably do. You can download any forms you need at irs.gov and print them off.

You’d be better off taking all of this paperwork to a professional tax preparer (NOT an attorney), but NOT the one who made a mess of things in the first place. It’ll cost you money, but far less than the $5000 they are asking him to pay back – and from what you’ve said it doesn’t sound like you really owe that if his/your return is done properly.

To correct the filing status on your return you need to file Form 1040X. This form can be found on the IRS web site at, in the forms.

You do not want to file an Innocent Spouse Request. To keep at least part of the refund from going to pay for your student loan, you need to file an Injured Spouse Request. This form is also on the IRS web site.