First year married filing jointly

[Bbickford01]

So, clearly I should have asked this before we submitted our returns, but I didn’t. My husband and I got married in October. We each submitted a return on our own separate accounts as filing jointly, and now I’m starting to think we’ve screwed the pooch. Each return asked for the opposite spouses AGI, and we gave all of the other info (ssn, ID info, etc). Are we up the creek without a paddle?

[VolvoGirl]

Sorry.  Did you efile them?  When the IRS starts accepting returns Jan 27 or 29 the second one filed will reject.  Then if the other return is Accepted you will have to wait for the IRS to fully process it and you get the first refund (or pay the tax due).  THEN  you can Amend it to add the other person's income.  Or did you include both your incomes on both returns?  Then it should be ok  since the IRS will only accept 1 return.   Hope that makes sense.  

[Bbickford01]

Yes we e-filed them and no, We only did the income of the respective person that submitted it. We also each have a child from a previous relationship and we only claimed the child we are blood related to on our returns. Is that going to cause further issues?

[VolvoGirl]

You are going to have to amend.  Wait and see which return gets accepted at the end of the month.   Then amend it to add all the income and both children on the same return.  A Joint return is one return combined for the both of you.  Or hopefully both returns will reject and you can pick either one to add the other person to it and ignore the other one.    

This is too late now but here's some notes for getting married.........

Getting Married FAQ
https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/tax-filing-status/help/what-does-getting-married-mean-for-my-taxes...

Tax info on getting married
https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tips/marriage/getting-married/L0DvEUlEC

Did you both use Turbo Tax last year?

You can not transfer from or combine 2 returns or accounts. Just pick the return for the spouse that has the most complicated return to enter or has any depreciation or business or more investments. Or use the account/return for whoever you want to be listed first going forward (by the way you can not change the order of the names). Then add the other spouse's name, ssn and info to it.

[Bbickford01]

I’ve used turbo tax for the last 5 years, this was his first year using it. Thank you so much for the information and advice. I should have done this before two days ago. 🤦🏻‍♀️