A Montana nurse was left stunned after discovering that her husband had secretly failed to pay $82,000 in taxes, putting their family home at risk of being seized by the IRS. As she recounted her ordeal during a call to The Ramsey Show, hosts Dave Ramsey and Rachel Cruze expressed both shock and frustration at the story.
The woman explained how, throughout 2021, she kept her nursing career steady while her husband pursued full-time real estate. That year, the couple had enough income that $82,000 in taxes was owed, money that was available in her husband’s business account.
Trusting him to handle their finances, she assumed everything was in order. However, “he didn’t” pay the IRS, Ramsey noted, highlighting a breach of trust that would send the family spiraling.
Instead of fulfilling their tax liability, the husband squandered the funds on a failed business venture. He also ignored calls and messages from their certified public accountant (CPA) and managed to hide IRS notices.
Their CPA eventually filed the taxes unsigned in early 2023 just to prevent further penalties. The nurse only learned about the mounting problem when a certified letter from the IRS landed in her hands and by then, the tax debt had ballooned to $150,000 and the agency threatened to levy their home.
Feeling “blindsided and betrayed,” the woman is now contemplating a second mortgage or even selling their home to escape the debt, although she plans to divorce her husband. This dilemma prompted direct advice from Ramsey: “No, I would not bail him out. I would bail us out if we are staying together.” He urged her not to take on more debt for her estranged spouse.
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A pressing question remained: Could she be held liable for the tax bill? Ramsey explained that if the tax debt is tied entirely to her husband’s business, the IRS’s “innocent spouse” provision could protect her after a divorce. “You would need a tax attorney or a great CPA that knows how to work that,” he advised, adding that if the house were sold and she qualified for the exception, only his portion would be at risk of IRS seizure.
According to Ramsey, “If she divorces him, she can likely file under the IRS’s innocent spouse provision, which protects someone who didn’t know about their partner’s unpaid taxes or deceptive financial behavior.” However, if she chooses to remain with him, the financial burden becomes a shared problem, requiring renewed trust and collaborative effort to rectify.
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Beyond the immediate tax nightmare, Ramsey used the case to illustrate a larger lesson about character and financial success. Quoting Tom Stanley, author of The Millionaire Next Door and The Millionaire Mind, he noted, “Billionaires shared one top trait: ‘fanatical levels of integrity.’” In contrast, he described the husband’s actions as “the opposite of integrity,” emphasizing how shortcuts and schemes ultimately undermine personal and financial stability.
Despite the severity of her husband’s choices, Ramsey told the nurse it wasn’t too late for him to turn things around: “Integrity is a decision. He can just decide to be a man of integrity starting today. But if he doesn’t, you got issues, sister.”
