When Both Spouses Owe: How the IRS Levies a Married Couple’s Wages

Married couples who filed joint returns are each liable for the full tax on those returns. That means the IRS has two potential paychecks to levy for one debt. The Internal Revenue Manual has specific rules for this, and they matter a great deal to a household budget.

The IRS usually picks one paycheck

IRM 5.11.5.4.3 tells revenue officers that for joint liabilities, they should generally levy the income of the spouse with the larger income. They should levy both incomes only in flagrant cases of neglect or refusal to pay, and they must secure group manager approval to levy the incomes of both spouses living in the same household.

That is a meaningful protection. If both of your paychecks are levied and you live together, there should be a group manager approval behind it, and the case should involve flagrant neglect or refusal. If you think that standard was not met, raise it. The Collection Appeals Program covers levies that have been or will be taken.

You are allowed to ask. A simple, polite question to the revenue officer or the IRS representative, asking whether both levies were approved by a group manager and why levying both paychecks was necessary, often clarifies the situation and sometimes leads to one levy being released while a payment arrangement is worked out.

Separated couples are different

The same IRM section says that if taxpayers are separated, the IRS should consider collecting from both spouses’ income rather than from one spouse’s income. Once you are running two households, the IRS sees two separate collection sources.

The exemption when both are levied

IRM 5.11.5.4.3 has a table for this:

• Filing jointly, both incomes levied: only one of you can claim the standard deduction for figuring the exempt amount.
• Any other filing status, both incomes levied: both of you can claim the standard deduction for your filing status.
• Remarried and filing jointly with new spouses, both levied: both can claim the standard deduction for their filing status.

And in every case: when both spouses’ incomes are levied, neither spouse can claim the other as a dependent.

In real dollars, take a married couple filing jointly, both paid biweekly, with two children, and both wages levied. Under Publication 1494 (Rev. 12-2025), the joint base for 2026 is $1,238.46 biweekly and each child adds $203.85. Only one spouse can use the joint standard deduction. The couple needs to coordinate their two statements so the joint base and each child appear only once in total. Leaving one spouse’s statement unreturned produces the married filing separately default of $619.23 for that spouse.

One spouse owes, the other does not

Not every married couple has a joint debt. If only one spouse owes, for example from a year before the marriage or a separately filed return, the IRS levies that spouse’s wages. The other spouse’s paycheck is generally not the IRS’s to take. IRM 5.11.5.4.4 also notes that a spouse’s income does not count as a second source of income that would let the IRS deny the exemption on the levied spouse’s wages.

Community property states are the exception to watch. IRM 5.11.5.3 refers revenue officers to IRM 5.11.6.13 for levies on a non-liable spouse in a community property state, and notes that in that situation the wage levy on the non-liable spouse is not continuous. If you live in a community property state, get advice specific to your state.

If one spouse should not owe at all

Sometimes the real issue is that one spouse should not be liable for the joint debt. Federal law provides relief from joint and several liability in IRC 6015. When a spouse makes an election under IRC 6015(b) or (c) or requests equitable relief under IRC 6015(f), IRC 6015(e)(1)(B) bars levy against that spouse for the assessment the request relates to until the period to petition the Tax Court ends, or until the Tax Court decision becomes final if a petition is filed. The collection statute is suspended during that time under IRC 6015(e)(2).

Whether you qualify for that relief is its own subject. The point here is that a pending request changes what the IRS can levy.

A household approach to release

For a married couple, the IRS looks at household finances. A hardship analysis under Treasury Regulation 301.6343-1(b)(4) considers the number of dependents, housing, food, medical and transportation for the household. Bring both incomes and all household expenses to the table, even if only one paycheck is levied. Hiding the other spouse’s income does not help; the IRS will ask.

From there, the options are the same as for anyone:

• An installment agreement, which requires release under IRC 6343(a)(1)(C).
• An economic hardship release, if the household cannot meet basic living expenses.
• A partial release setting a fixed amount.

Divorce and the levy

Under IRC 6013(d)(3), when a joint return is made, liability for the tax is joint and several. A divorce decree that assigns a joint tax debt to one spouse is an order between the two of you; the IRS is not a party to it. So the IRS can still collect the joint liability from either spouse, unless one obtains relief under IRC 6015. People are often shocked by this. A decree that says your former spouse will pay the 2021 balance does not stop a levy on your wages for 2021. If the IRS levies you for a debt your former spouse agreed to pay, your remedy against your former spouse lies in family court. Your remedy against the IRS levy lies in the release grounds in IRC 6343 and any relief available under IRC 6015.

After a separation, update your levy statement too. Your filing status will change, and so may your dependents. Under Treasury Regulation 301.6334-3(e), none of that reaches your paycheck until you file a new statement. See updating an old levy.

Checklist for couples

1. Confirm which tax periods are joint and which belong to only one of you.
2. If both paychecks are levied and you live together, ask whether group manager approval was obtained.
3. Coordinate your two levy statements so the standard deduction and each dependent are counted correctly.
4. Gather household income and expense documents for both of you.
5. Decide whether either spouse has a basis for relief from joint liability, and get advice before filing.

Joint debt, two paychecks, one household budget. The IRS rules expect the IRS to pick one paycheck. Make sure it did.