- The IRS requires you to choose a tax filing status based on your marital status on the last day of the year. For example, if you are officially married in your state on December 31, it is as if you were married for the entire year. If you are married, you cannot file an individual return and individual payers cannot file a joint return until they marry.
- Multiple tax filing statuses can apply to you. If you are married, you can file as married but separated. You may be able to file as head of household even if you have a spouse if you lived apart from him for the last six months of the year and cared for a child. However, the status of married but separated eliminates dozens of tax deductions, such as the tuition tax deduction and the American Opportunity credit.
- Although some taxpayers experience a marriage penalty when they marry, most lower their tax, according to Liz Weston of MSN Money Central. A marriage bonus is likely to occur when one spouse has a high income and the other does not work, because the lower-earning spouse takes income from the higher earner into a lower tax bracket and the standard deduction doubles for joint filers.
- Read IRS Publication 501 to help determine your available filing statuses if you cannot figure them out yourself. Also, calculate your tax burden under all of your statuses. Although unlikely, the status of married but separated can result in a lower tax burden than a joint return. One way this might happen is when one spouse has a lot of medical bills. Medical bills are only deductible when they exceed 7.5 percent of your income, so it may be easier to meet this requirement by splitting your incomes.
previous post