The IRS fired probationary workers this week, claiming they weren't critical to tax filing season.The agency had already been struggling in recent years to keep up with tax return processing.One expert said there's no way to cut a large number of workers without affecting filing season.

If you have jointly filed your tax return, you may be able to limit how much of the joint refund is reduced. The IRS says that if “you’re not responsible for debt that is subject to offset because it is owed by your spouse, you’re entitled to request your portion of the refund back from the IRS.”