What is an “injured spouse” in terms of tax relief?

An injured spouse is a taxpayer who is entitled to recover his refund that was kept by the IRS.  Any time a married couple files a joint return and the refund is kept due to only one spouse owing prior taxes, there is a process for the non-delinquent spouse to recover his/her part of the refund.  The non-liable spouse is called an Injured Spouse.  To qualify, the injured spouse (a) must have had federal income tax withheld from wages, made estimated tax payments or claimed a refundable tax credit and (b) not be liable for the delinquent tax.  The injured spouse must file a Form 8379 either with the tax return or by itself later.  This relief also applies to the IRS taking refunds for other types of delinquent payments.