IRS Publication 17 — Your Federal Income Tax (Individuals)
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“Underpayment penalty. Under the regular in- stallment method, if your estimated tax payment for any period is less than one-fourth of your es- timated tax, you may be charged a penalty for underpayment of estimated tax for that period when you file your tax return.”
If you haven’t filed your joint return and you know that your joint refund will be offset, file Form 8379 with your return. You should receive your refund within 14 weeks from the date the paper return is filed or within 11 weeks from the date the return is filed electronically.
If you filed your joint return and your joint refund was offset, file Form 8379 by itself. When filed after offset, it can take up to 8 weeks to receive your refund. Don’t attach the previously filed tax return, but do include copies of all Forms W-2 and W-2G for both spouses and any Forms 1099 that show income tax withheld. The processing of Form 8379 may be delayed if these forms aren’t attached, or if the form is incomplete when filed. A separate Form 8379 must be filed for each tax year to be considered.
An injured spouse claim is different from an innocent spouse relief request.
An injured spouse uses Form 8379 to request the division of the tax overpayment attributed to each spouse. An innocent spouse uses Form 8857, Request for Innocent Spouse Relief, to request relief from joint liability for tax, interest, and penalties on a joint return for items of the other spouse (or former spouse) that were incorrectly reported on the joint return. For information on innocent spouses, see Relief from joint responsibility under Filing a Joint Return in chapter 2. Amount You Owe When you complete your return, you will determine if you have paid the full amount of tax that you owe. If you owe additional tax, you should pay it with your return.
You don’t have to pay if the amount you owe is under $1.
If the IRS figures your tax for you, you will receive a bill for any tax that is due. You should pay this bill within 30 days (or by the due date of your return, if later). See Tax Figured by IRS in chapter 13.
If you don’t pay your tax when due, you may have to pay a failure -to-pay penalty. See Penalties, later. For more information about your balance due, see Pub. 594.
If the amount you owe for 2025 is large, you may want to increase the amount of income tax withheld from your pay or make estimated tax payments for 2026. See chapter 4 for more information.
How To Pay You can pay online, by phone, by mobile device, in cash, or by check or money order. Don’t include any estimated tax payment for 2026 in this payment. Instead, make the estimated tax payment separately.
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TIP Publication 17 (2025) Chapter 1 Filing Information 15
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