Innocent Spouse:
 
To qualify for innocent spouse relief, you must meet all of the following conditions:
 
1) You must have filed a joint return(not married filing separate) which has an understatement of tax;
 
2) The understatement of tax must be due to erroneous items of your spouse;
 
3) You must establish that at the time you signed the joint return, you did not know, and had no reason to know, that there was an understatement of tax;
 
4) Taking into account all of the facts and circumstances, it would be unfair to hold you liable for the understatement of tax; and
 
5) You must request relief within 2 years after the date on which the IRS first began collection activity against you after July 22, 1998
 
 
Not taking the community property laws into account it appears that in California it is hard to get around the community property statutes. You would have to be legally separated or divorced here in California. 
 
 
But there is another type of relief called Equitable Relief:
 
Equitable relief is only available if you meet all of the following conditions:
 
1)You do not qualify for innocent spouse relief or the separation of liability election(divorced or legally separated in California).
 
2)The IRS determines that it is unfair to hold you liable for the understatement of tax taking into account all the facts and circumstances.
 
Unlike innocent spouse relief or separation of liability relief, you can get equitable relief from an understated tax.
 
You may qualify for equitable relief if you meet all of the following conditions:
 
You are not eligible for innocent spouse relief, separation of liability relief, or relief from liability arising from community property law.
 
You have an understated tax or an underpaid tax.
 
You did not pay the tax.
 
You establish that, taking into account all the facts and circumstances, it would be unfair to hold you liable for the understated or underpaid tax. See Factors for Determining Whether To Grant Equitable Relief, later.
 
You and your spouse (or former spouse) did not transfer assets to one another as a part of a fraudulent scheme. A fraudulent scheme includes a scheme to defraud the IRS or another third party, such as a creditor, ex-spouse, or business partner.
 
Your spouse (or former spouse) did not transfer property to you for the main purpose of avoiding tax or the payment of tax. See Transfers of Property To Avoid Tax, earlier, under Separation of Liability Relief.
 
You did not file or fail to file your return with the intent to commit fraud.
 
The income tax liability from which you seek relief must be attributable to an item of the spouse (or former spouse) with whom you filed the joint return, unless one of the following exceptions applies:
 
The item is attributable or partially attributable to you solely due to the operation of community property law. If you meet this exception, that item will be considered attributable to your spouse (or former spouse) for purposes of equitable relief.
 
If the item is titled in your name, the item is presumed to be attributable to you. However, you can rebut this presumption based on the facts and circumstances.
 
You did not know, and had no reason to know that funds intended for the payment of tax were misappropriated by your spouse (or former spouse) for his or her benefit. If you meet this exception, the IRS will consider granting equitable relief although the underpaid tax may be attributable in part or in full to your item, and only to the extent the funds intended for payment were taken by your spouse (or former spouse).
 
You establish that you were the victim of spousal abuse or domestic violence before signing the return, and that, as a result of the prior abuse, you did not challenge the treatment of any items on the return for fear of your spouse's retaliation. If you meet this exception, relief will be considered although the understated tax or underpaid tax may be attributable in part or in full to your item.
 
Factors for Determining Whether To Grant Equitable Relief
 
The IRS will consider all of the facts and circumstances in order to determine whether it is unfair to hold you responsible for the understated or underpaid tax. The following are examples of factors that the IRS will consider to determine whether to grant equitable relief. The IRS will consider all factors and weigh them appropriately.
 
Relevant Factors
 
The following are examples of factors that may be relevant to whether the IRS will grant equitable relief:
 
1) Whether you are separated (whether legally or not) or divorced from your spouse. A temporary absence, such as an absence due to imprisonment, illness, business, vacation, military service, or education, is not considered separation for this purpose. A temporary absence is one where it is reasonable to assume that the absent spouse will return to the household, and the household or a substantially equivalent household is maintained in anticipation of the absent spouse's return.
 
2) Whether you would suffer a significant economic hardship if relief is not granted. (In other words, you would not be able to pay your reasonable basic living expenses.)
 
3) Whether you have a legal obligation under a divorce decree or agreement to pay the tax. This factor will not weigh in favor of relief if you knew or had reason to know, when entering into the divorce decree or agreement, that your former spouse would not pay the income tax liability.
 
4) Whether you received a significant benefit (beyond normal support) from the underpaid tax or item causing the understated tax. (For a definition of significant benefit, see Indications of Unfairness for Innocent Spouse Relief earlier.)
 
5) Whether you have made a good faith effort to comply with federal income tax laws for the tax year for which you are requesting relief or the following years.
 
6) Whether you knew or had reason to know about the items causing the understated tax or that the tax would not be paid, as explained next.
 
Also,
 
7) Whether your spouse (or former spouse) abused you.
 
8) Whether you were in poor mental or physical health on the date you signed the return or at the time you requested relief.
 
 Injured Spouse:
 
I have filed many injured spouse claims when I was in Pennsylvania but they are not appropriate here in California due to the community property right of spouses.