Harry Gross: Statute of limitations has run out for IRS

Dear Harry: I am writing to you concerning two matters that have been troubling me for some time. I filed my 1981 tax return in 1982, which showed that I owed the IRS $106. I had no taxes taken from my pay on a second job that I had right before Christmas. From that day to now, the IRS did not contact me once. All that was before I got married. Will that debt carry over into my marriage? I have been incarcerated for more than 20 years. Secondly, I have been told that my wife should be carrying me on her tax return. Is this so? When can she start? It would save her a lot of money, which we'll put to good use when I am released in March.

What Harry says: That debt from your 1981 return is long past the time allowed by the law for its collection. The time limit is 10 years from the date of the assessment. Your self-assessment date is in 1982, and their collection efforts never got off the ground. Forget it. For question No. 2, so long as you are married and not "legally separated" (akin to a divorce), she and you may file a joint return. Since you did not file that way in the past, you have until April 15 to file an amended return (Form 1040X) for 2007. For 2008 and 2009 you can hold off a little, but do it this year. And certainly file a joint return for 2010.

I must admit that this was entirely new to me, and I had to do a little digging to get a determination of whether your incarceration was enough to disqualify you.

Write Harry Gross c/o the Daily News, 400 N. Broad St., Philadelphia, PA 19130. Harry urges all his readers to give blood: Contact the American Red Cross at 1-800-Red Cross.