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I was a stay at home mother for 14 years. My children’s father (never married but lived together)would deposit money into my checking account every month to take care of the household and kids by writing me a check from one of his multiple llc’s and that’s the money that I used. Now we are separated and I’m getting liens for back taxes and it’s showing i was an employee at his multiple companies. He used me as a write off it looks like. Did he commit tax fraud? Thank you!

Jennifer
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    This sounds like a strong 'yes'. But also, you need to engage a lawyer. If he's capable of this, there's no just calling him up to straighten this out. – JTP - Apologise to Monica Dec 02 '20 at 22:00
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    @JTP-ApologisetoMonica by why are liens placed against her if she was just an employee? It seems like the boyfriend involved her in his companies more than she realized. (And she definitely needs to talk to a lawyer!) – RonJohn Dec 02 '20 at 22:08
  • Good question, she doesn’t go into detail if the back taxes are income, from her ‘employment’ by his llc or if her name was added to an llc and it owes money. – JTP - Apologise to Monica Dec 02 '20 at 22:12
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    @RonJohn The most likely scenario is that the IRS received 1099's from him indicating that she should have been filing self-employment income which has not been reflected in her tax returns. Tax-liens are very common among mis-classified employees and/or those new to contracting. It would be much less likely if W2 since that would have forced withholding obligations on his end. – Hart CO Dec 02 '20 at 23:17
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    I think you should add a country tag to the question. – Flux Dec 02 '20 at 23:18

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FYI - I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice:

The fact that you are getting a lien for back taxes when your involvement is simply receiving money from him for household expenses implies that there is something wrong.

Even if he said you were a 'contractor' and sent you a 1099 there is a normally a presumption with social agreements that they are not legally enforceable (i.e. not a 'contract'). However, if you provided service to him 'at arms length' (as though you were in a commercial relationship) e.g. you had a written contract signed by both parties and invoiced him regularly that could rebut the presumption but seems unlikely. The specific rules can vary from state to state, so a local lawyer familiar with contract law (most should be) would be able to advise.

The challenge will be finding a way to deal with it effectively so that it does not consume too much of your time and doesn't cost a fortune. Shop around and find a lawyer who can assist with this type of thing and can help to keep the costs low. Some may be able to give you some initial advice before they start billing you. If this is not something they deal with, they might be able to recommend someone who could help.

For it to be tax fraud: did he willfully and intentionally falsify information on a tax return to limit the amount of tax liability? It is not clear. Possibly.

xirt
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    IF OP is in US as you and others have assumed but they didn't say, AND is low-income (didn't even hint), LITC might be suitable. 'collection matters' includes liens -- and the opportunity for a Collection Due Process Hearing which is required to be offered not later than 5 days after filing NFTL. – dave_thompson_085 Dec 04 '20 at 03:58