11.3 Threats and Theft

A batterer may threaten to hurt a survivor in order to get the survivor to forgo a dependency exemption or other tax benefits. An abusive intimate partner may steal from a taxpayer’s account and said theft may support a theft loss deduction.1  Explore these issues with your client. Advise any client who has been threatened of any available civil or criminal remedies. If a spouse establishes that a joint return was signed under duress, the return is not a joint return.2

• 1Herrington v. Comm’r, T.C. Memo 2011-73.
• 226 C.F.R. § 1.6013.4; Rev. Proc. 2003-61, 2003-2 C.B. 296, § 2.03.