Reimbursement of Overpaid Taxes among Bankrupt Couples

Paying taxes is already awful enough but this question tops it all: Who is to be reimbursed the overpaid taxes in general and especially when one of the married couple becomes bankrupt? The BFH gave an answer to this question on September 30, 2008 (re VII R 18/08).

A married coupled had been paying taxes in advance. The filed their return jointly and not separately. In the mean time, the bankruptcy proceedings were opened against one of the spouses. After taxation was assessed, it turned that the couple paid too much and the surplus was to be reimbursed. Not being otherwise instructed, the tax office split the surplus in half and so returned it to the couple. The not bankrupt spouse demanded payment in full, though not otherwise instructed, because she considered it as self-evident that the payments were only for her and not her husband's taxes.

The Federal Tax Court held that, as previous ruling case law states, that even when one of the partners of a married couple goes bankrupt, both partners receive half of the reimbursement §44 I AO in conjunction with §§37 II, 26, 26b EStG. Anything else has to be determined in advance.

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