When people think about domestic violence, the initial assumption is that the abuse is physical or sexual. But that’s not always the case. Abuse can take many forms, including emotional, verbal, psychological, and financial. In fact, research shows that 98% of people experiencing domestic violence also experience economic abuse. If you’re a tax preparer or tax professional, the first thing you should do this tax season is familiarize yourself with the issue of economic abuse.
Abusers can establish and maintain power over a survivor’s finances by preventing or limiting access to funds, sabotaging or interfering with employment, coercing debt, forging ...