Innocent Spouse Relief

Equitable Relief IRS (Section 6015(f)): When You Don't Qualify for Other Innocent Spouse Relief (2025)

By Angeline Balsitis, EA · Reviewed by Melissa Ly, EA · Updated July 7, 2025 · Editorial Standards

What equitable relief is — and why it exists

When you sign a joint tax return, you and your spouse become "jointly and severally liable." In plain English, that means the IRS can collect the entire balance from either one of you — even after a divorce, even if the tax came entirely from the other person's income or mistakes. Equitable relief from the IRS exists to soften that hard rule when holding you responsible would be genuinely unfair.

There are three kinds of innocent spouse relief. The first two — traditional innocent spouse relief and separation of liability — only help when there was an understatement of tax (a balance the IRS later found was wrong). Equitable relief is different and broader. It's the only type that can also help when the tax was reported correctly on a joint return but simply never got paid. The IRS explains all three at its innocent spouse relief page.

If you've already read our guide on innocent spouse relief and how to qualify and learned you don't fit the first two boxes, equitable relief is usually your next door to knock on.

When equitable relief is the right path

Think of equitable relief as the IRS's safety net. You may be a candidate if any of these describe you:

• The tax was reported but not paid. Your joint return was accurate, but the balance went unpaid — and your spouse was the one who agreed to handle it.
• You don't meet the time or knowledge limits for traditional innocent spouse or separation-of-liability relief, but the situation is still unfair.
• You were financially controlled or abused. Your spouse hid the finances, intimidated you into signing, or you feared retaliation if you questioned the return.
• Paying the debt would cause real hardship. You can't cover basic living expenses and the tax bill too.

Note that equitable relief is about joint liability — it's not the same as an injured spouse claim, which protects your share of a refund that was taken for a debt that was only your spouse's to begin with. People mix these up constantly. They are different forms for different problems.

The factors the IRS weighs

There's no single test. The IRS looks at all your facts together and decides whether granting relief is "equitable" — fair. These are the main factors it considers, drawn from its published guidelines:

• Marital status — being divorced, separated, or no longer living together helps your case.
• Economic hardship — whether paying the tax would leave you unable to meet basic, reasonable living expenses.
• Knowledge — whether you knew or had reason to know the tax wouldn't be paid (or that the return understated tax). This counts against you, but isn't an automatic bar.
• Legal obligation — whether a divorce decree made your spouse responsible for the tax.
• Significant benefit — whether you got a meaningful financial benefit from the unpaid tax beyond normal support.
• Compliance — whether you've filed and paid your own taxes in the years since.
• Health — physical or mental health problems when the return was signed or when you requested relief.

Abuse weighs heavily in your favor. If your spouse controlled the money or you were a victim of domestic abuse, the IRS gives that real weight — even if you technically "knew" about the tax. You are not expected to have stood up to someone you reasonably feared.

What happens if you do nothing

The joint debt doesn't go away on its own, and the IRS's collection machine treats you exactly like any other person who owes. If you ignore the balance, the sequence escalates:

1. Balance-due and reminder notices (CP14, then CP501/CP503) — the debt grows by interest and a 0.5%-per-month failure-to-pay penalty.
2. CP504 — Notice of Intent to Levy. The IRS can take your state refund and a federal tax lien becomes likely.
3. LT11 / Letter 1058 — Final Notice. After 30 days the IRS can garnish your wages and levy your bank account — your money, for a debt your spouse created.

Here's the important part: filing Form 8857 generally pauses collection against you while the IRS reviews your request. That's one more reason to ask early instead of waiting for a levy notice. If your refund has already been taken or divorce muddied who owes what, our guide on divorce and who pays the IRS debt walks through how that gets sorted.

A worked example

Say a joint 2021 return reported $18,000 of tax owed. Maria's ex-husband ran the household finances and promised to pay it from his business account. He never did. They divorced in 2023, and the divorce decree said he was responsible for the 2021 taxes. By 2025 the balance — with penalties and interest — has grown past $22,000, and the IRS sends Maria a levy notice because her wages are the easiest to reach.

Maria didn't understate anything, so traditional innocent spouse relief doesn't fit. But equitable relief might: the tax was reported and unpaid, she's now divorced, the decree put the debt on her ex, she had no control over the money, and paying it would cause hardship. She files Form 8857, collection against her pauses, and the IRS weighs the factors. No outcome is guaranteed — but this is exactly the situation equitable relief was written for.

How to request equitable relief, step by step

1. Pull your records. Get the joint return for the year at issue, your IRS account transcript, and your divorce decree if you have one.
2. Complete Form 8857, Request for Innocent Spouse Relief. You don't have to name "equitable relief" — the IRS automatically considers it if you don't qualify for the other types. Our Form 8857 walkthrough covers it line by line.
3. Write your explanation. Tell the IRS what happened in plain, specific terms — who controlled the money, what you knew, any abuse or health issues, and why paying now would cause hardship.
4. Attach support. Divorce decree, proof of separate finances, medical records, anything that backs up your story.
5. File before the deadline — within the 10-year collection window for relief from the debt, or the shorter refund window if you want money back.
6. Respond to the IRS. It will contact your former spouse (the law requires it) and may ask follow-up questions. If your request is denied, you can appeal — and you have the right to take it to Tax Court.

Equitable relief questions, answered

This guide is general information, not tax or legal advice for your specific situation. Eligibility for IRS programs depends on individual facts and circumstances; no outcome is guaranteed. If you can't get the help you need, the Taxpayer Advocate Service is a free, independent resource inside the IRS.

Related: Innocent spouse relief: how to qualify · Form 8857 walkthrough · Injured spouse vs. innocent spouse · or browse all guides.