Uncover Secret Accounts Using Your Tax Returns

It's tax season and if you are going through a divorce, you are probably reviewing your family's tax returns to calculate income. Maybe you feel very confident looking at these documents. Or maybe (more likely) this is the first time you are looking at the tax returns because this responsibility fell to your husband in past years. 

Your tax returns can give you tons of information about where your money is, so make sure you get the last three to five years of returns. It's not hard to get the returns if you don't have them, and I have a simple process you can follow to get them.

If your husband is holding your returns hostage, don't worry. You can get the transcripts directly from the IRS website.

Once you have your tax returns, you're going to have a powerful tool to find secret bank and investment accounts. The key to finding evidence of hidden accounts on the tax returns lies in the lines for taxable interest and dividends. These are found on Form 1040, lines 2 and 3.

If you see numbers on these lines, check to see if you have a Schedule B included with your tax return. This schedule gives the details behind the numbers on lines 2 and 3. You'll see names of banks or brokerage firms that paid the interest and dividends.

Did you know that you had accounts at these companies? If you've never heard them mentioned before, you may have just uncovered evidence of secret accounts.

Regardless of whether you knew about these accounts or not, you'll need to put them on your list of accounts for which you need to get statements. You'll need to see the statements so you can find out how much money is in the accounts and what has been going in and out of them. These accounts are important because that money belongs to you, too, and you want to make sure to get your share of them in the divorce.

Make sure you take your time to review your tax returns from multiple years. You may be surprised at just how much you can find.