Wife and I filed separately in 2015 and 2016. Found out we should have done jointly. Difference of thousands in refund. Can we amend both years?

[danyelledixon21]

My wife and I married in 2015 but filed separately. We did the same in 2016. After talking to a friend about refunds and how we didn't expect much I was told to file jointly. This year while preparing my taxes we discovered we hadn't recieved the EIC for filing separately. The difference is over $3000 in refund. So I know we can amens our 2016 taxes. I want to know if we can amend our 2015 taxes as well.

[KennethB · Accepted solution]

Yes, you can amend both 2015 and 2016 returns to change your filing status to married filing jointly.

Many married couples find it best to file jointly since that usually provides the larger refund and you don't have as much due in taxes.   

You can see in more details here Is it better for a married couple to file jointly or separately? why it's better to file jointly. And you will find more details on why you’d want to file separately on that page as well. 

When you file separately, your tax rate is higher and you won't get to claim these things:

• Education benefits
• Earned Income Credit (EIC)
• Child and Dependent Care Credit (usually)

• The same benefit married filing jointly couples get for personal exemptions, itemized deductions, the Child Tax Credit, and capital losses (all of these deductions are reduced by half)
• Itemized deductions if your spouse has already claimed the standard deduction, or the other way around.