A U.S. federal income tax return is not valid if it is not signed. You as the taxpayer must sign the return, indicating the date, your occupation, and a daytime telephone number.
Even when another person prepares and signs the return, the taxpayer must also sign it and is responsible for the information reported on the return.
Signing a Joint Return
Married persons who file a joint return must both sign the return. If one of the spouses cannot sign the return, the following indications apply:
Deceased spouse: The executor or administrator must sign the return for the deceased spouse. If no executor or administrator has been appointed, you as the surviving spouse must sign the return for your deceased spouse, noting “Filing as surviving spouse” below your signature.
Injury or illness: When your spouse cannot sign the return due to illness or injury, you can sign the return for your spouse, noting “By (your name) Husband (or Wife)”. You must attach a statement to your return indicating the form number you are using to file (Form 1040, 1040A, or 1040-EZ), the year for which the return is being filed, the reason why your spouse cannot sign, and that he or she consents in you signing the return on his or her behalf.
Guardian: If you are your spouse’s guardian, you can sign the return on his or her behalf.
Spouse in combat zone: When your spouse cannot sign because he or she is in a combat zone, you can sign if there is no power of attorney for someone else to sign on his or her behalf. You must attach a statement indicating that your spouse is serving in a combat zone.
Other reasons: If your spouse cannot sign for some other reason, you can only sign if you have a valid power of attorney to sign on his or her behalf. You must attach a copy of the power of attorney to your tax return. You could also use Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Form 2848 for this purpose. This form can be downloaded from the IRS website at www.irs.gov.
Liability for a Joint Return
In general, both spouses are liable, individually and jointly, for the information reported on a joint return and for the payment of the tax owed and any penalties or interest that may apply. But there may be cases in which one of the spouses signs the return, trusting in the information provided by the other spouse, that turns out to be incorrect. There are four types of relief in this case: (1) innocent spouse relief that applies to all persons who sign a joint return; (2) separation of liability, which applies to spouses who are widowed, divorced, or legally separated, or who have not lived together during the 12 months prior to requesting this form of relief; (3) equitable relief, which applies to persons who have filed a joint return but do not qualify for the first two types of relief; and (4) relief from liability arising from community property law.
You must file Form 8857, Request for Innocent Spouse Relief, or a written statement with the same information required on Form 8857 in order to claim any of these types of relief. Form 8857 can be downloaded from the IRS website.
Tax Returns for Minors
When you have to file a tax return for a minor child and the child cannot sign the return, either of the parents can sign the child’s name in the space for the taxpayer’s signature and then write “By (your name), parent for minor child.
Normally it would be necessary to file a separate return when your child has income of more than $850 from investments or from sources other than work, has income of more than $5,350 from work, or has gross income (a combination of income from work and other sources) of more than the larger of $850 or earned income (up to $5,050) plus $300).
Tax Returns for Deceased Taxpayers
When a representative has been appointed for the deceased, that person must sign the tax return filed for the deceased, when a return is required to be filed. If a joint return is being filed, the surviving spouse must also sign. When a personal representative has not been appointed, and a joint return is filed, the surviving spouse can file and sign the return for the deceased spouse, noting “Filing as surviving spouse” below his or her signature.
If no personal representative has been appointed and there is no surviving spouse, the person in charge of the deceased taxpayer’s property must sign the return as “personal representative”.
The “Third Party Designee” section of the tax return, just above the section where the taxpayer signs, is completed when you want to allow a relative, friend, or another person to be able to discuss your return with the Internal Revenue Service. This person is not necessarily your legal representative or the preparer of the return. It is a person in whom you trust to discuss your return directly with the IRS on your behalf, and who the IRS can contact if they have questions. You should indicate the person’s name, telephone number, and any five digits that the person wants to use as a personal identification number (PIN).
You can also designate the person who you paid to prepare your return as the third party designee. In that case, you only need to write “Preparer” in the Third Party Designee section. It is not necessary to complete the rest of the information.
When you check the “Yes” box in this section, you are authorizing the IRS to call the designated person if any question arises with regard to your return. You are also authorizing the designated person to provide the IRS with any information that may be missing, call the IRS regarding the processing of your return or the status of a refund or payment, receive copies of notices related to your return, as requested, and respond to notices from the IRS with regard to errors on the return or other aspects of its preparation.
When you designate a third party to discuss your return with the IRS, you are not authorizing that person to receive a refund on your behalf, to enter into any commitment with the IRS, or to legally represent you before the IRS. These are attributes that are conferred upon a legal representative through a power of attorney.
Representative
When you cannot sign your own tax return, you can authorize a representative to sign the return for you. You must attach a copy of a power of attorney to your return, in which you specifically authorize the representative to sign your tax return.
According to IRS rules, another person can sign a return for you only in the following circumstances: you have an illness or injury; you are continuously outside the United States, including Puerto Rico, for a period of at least 60 days before the date on which you have to file your return; or you have requested specific permission from the IRS and that permission has been granted.
Form 2848
You can use IRS Form 2848, Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative, to appoint a representative to act on your behalf before the IRS. It should be noted that this form is strictly for representation before the IRS and does not serve any other purpose.
By completing and filing Form 2848 you are authorizing the person you designate to represent you and act on your behalf in carrying out acts before the IRS that you yourself could carry out. In section 3 of the form you specify the tax matter that the representation concerns; that is, the type of tax (income), the number of the tax form (1040), and the corresponding year.
If you want to modify the acts that your representative can carry out, you indicate on line 5 of Form 2848 the acts that you want to add or delete from the representative’s powers. The representative’s powers do not include the authority to receive tax refund checks. If you want the representative to be able to receive your refund check, you can indicate this on line 6. But even in that case, the representative cannot endorse or cash the check.
On Form 2848 you can only appoint a representative who is eligible to practice before the IRS. The following persons are eligible: an attorney, a Certified Public Accountant, an agent registered to act before the IRS, an executive of the organization to which you belong, a full-time employee of yours, a member of your family (spouse, parent, son, daughter, brother, or sister), a registered actuary, and the preparer of the return. You can appoint the preparer of the return only if the return is under examination by the IRS.
It should be noted that any person can represent a taxpayer, either an individual or a legal entity, before IRS personnel when the representation takes place outside the United States.
In general, any person who you pay to prepare your return must sign the return. If someone prepared your return but did not charge you, that person does not have to sign it. If you have granted power to a representative, or have appointed someone to discuss the return with the IRS, the paid preparer could be the same person, but that does not have to be the case.
When You File Your Return Electronically
When you file your return electronically, your personal identification number (PIN) constitutes your signature. You yourself choose the PIN, which can be any combination of 5 digits, except for five zeros. You can use your PIN when you prepare and send the return yourself from your personal computer using software provided by the IRS, or when you ask a tax professional to prepare and send your return electronically.
When you establish your PIN for the first time, you will be asked to verify your identity. To do this you will need to enter the amount of the adjusted gross income on your original tax return from the previous year. If you filed an amended return or had to change this amount in accordance with a notice from the IRS, you still must use the amount originally reported for purposes of verifying your identity in order to request a PIN.
Certain taxpayers cannot file a return electronically. These include taxpayers less than 16 years old who are filing a tax return for the first time, and taxpayers who must attach certain special forms or certificates in hard copy.
When you file your return electronically, you do not have to send a copy of your W-2 form. The data from the W-2 are entered into the software that you use to prepare the return and it is not necessary to send in the paper forms.
If you are not eligible for a PIN or prefer not to sign using a PIN, you can still file electronically, but you will have to send in Form 8453 or 8453-OL. Form 8453, U.S. Individual Income Tax Transmittal for an IRS e-file Return, is used when you are paying an authorized person to prepare and file your return electronically. This person is referred to as an ERO – Electronic Return Originator. Form 8453-OL, U.S. Individual Income Tax Declaration for an IRS e-file Online Return, is used when you yourself are sending your own tax return electronically online.
Reference:
Fairmark – Tax Guide for Investors – Relief from Spousal Liability: www.fairmark.com
