credit and marriage

Anything you guys apply for jointly is the only thing that will show up on your credit. Now his bad credit will probably affect the ability for you guys to get credit together.

So, if I were to marry him the IRS cannot take anything away from me that just has my name on it or freeze my bank accounts. That is what I am worried about.

Some of it depends on the state you live in too.IF they just garnish his wages for taxes and such then in that case they wouldnot garnish you for it just his pay.But if you live in a community property state and for some reason they would freeze his bank account and your name is on it then it would affect you.I'm no expert on it but i think it woudl affect your income tax returns too if you would file jointly.My brother has not seen a tax return in along time for child support.I also think if they would garnish his pay for those things then i wouldnt see a need to freeze bank accounts.Has he been garnished yet for his taxes or support?

No he has not been garnished for the taxes but he has for the child support. I live in IL

YELIK1 - I would definitely recommend you both sit down and discuss the tax debt he has. There's not a lot you can do for the child support at this time, since it's already being garnished. But the tax debt won't be far behind if he doesn't address it now. I believe there can only be one garnishment at a time (someone please correct me if I'm wrong here) on a paycheck. But once the child support garnishment is done, they will immediately hit him with the tax garnishment, unless the IRS decides to proceed in another manner, since they can't garnish his wages with another garnishment already in place. The IRS is a powerful entity - you don't want to ignore them.

Has he addressed this tax debt at all, to this point? Is he making any payments against it at all?

Heres what I would do if i were you,If you dont want to get married in the next month or 2 I would have him get in touch with the IRS or whomever he owes the taxes to and ask for a voluntary wage garnishment or some sort of payment plan that he will stick with.

As soon as he does this then you will know exactly how much he will be paying or have taken out of each pay.Then from there you will have a more accurat picture of the both of your financial situation.At first you dont have to get a joint checking account just have individual ones until some of his things are paid off or down.

If he gets garnished or make any payments he agrees to I really dont think you have to worry about the bank account.

And if your credit is good, this will help him get his credit back on track once these are paid off.

I honestly think the only time anyones bank account gets frozen is when they show no effort or willingness to pay.

Hope this helps. Good lUCK!

No,he has not done anything with the IRS yet, but I think I will just say no to the marriage thing until he gets all this straightened out

A couple of things: First, is Illinois a community property state? This means that you are entitled to half his assets and vice versa--as well as half the debts incurred during the marriage.
And in regards to his tax debt and child support, I would say that while he definately has issues here, the IRS would not go after your wages, simply because you never signed the tax return and his child is not yours.
If you were to get married and file jointly, then the IRS could definately grab your refund, should you get one, since you are both filing together. If you went Married Filing Separately, then it wouldn't be an issue. The drawback to this filing status is that you lose a lot of the perks you would get filing jointly, so you have to weigh it out.

I don't believe that getting married would be an issue here. They aren't married yet and even in a community property state you can't be held to someone else's debt if the debt or liability occurred before you got married. However, just to be on the safe side, do a Pre-Nuptial Agreement basically stating that what's yours is yours and what's his is his until his mess gets straightened out. You can always revoke it later if you wish.

With the IRS. You don't want to just call them up and say, "Hey, I know I owe you money and I want to set up a payment arrangement." The IRS will charge you the full amount of taxes due plus interest and penalties. They have an Offer And Compromise program that can reduce the liability from anywhere between 30 and 50% of the tax liability.

Does he owe state taxes? Many states offer have a one-time forgiveness program. You would have to make inquiry with your state taxing authority. You don't have to give out pertinent information, just inquire. And as for the IRS, they are the master CAs, so if you want to reduce your obligation to the IRS and set up an affordable payment plan, it would be best to talk with a tax attorney. Try to find one that accepts installment payments.