Should my husband claim me on taxes if I owe student loans?

[poppy71317]

I got married in October of '16 and I graduated in December of '16. my student loans were automatically deffered until July of '17, and I have applied for more time as my daughter was born in July of '17. We are a single income household, I have not worked at all this year.

My question is, should my husband claim me on his taxes as a dependant or will that hurt his refund due to my loans? should we file together or separately? I only want him to get the refund he deserves. As more information, he made roughly $55,000 this year. thank you!

[Critter · Accepted solution]

First a spouse can never be claimed as a dependent. 

Second you should file jointly BUT wait until the deferment is set ... file an extension if need be.

Or you could file but add an injured spouse form to the return so your bad debt will not effect his refund. 

[poppy71317]

is the injured spouse form hard to fill out/apply to our taxes? Is that a form we would get and bring to whoever is doing our taxes, or will they provide that form?

[IreneS]

It is not hard to fill out.  TurboTax can provide you that form.  See the second answer below for steps to include form 8379 in your return.

[IreneS]

An Injured spouse designation prevents a spouse's tax refund from being attached for the debt of the other spouse (for example unpaid taxes or student loans).  Your husband is the injured spouse in this situation. Please follow these steps to complete Form 8379, Injured Spouse Allocation, which can be filed with your return (or separately):

1. Click on Federal Taxes > Other Tax Situations  [In TT Self-Employed:  Personal > Other Tax Situations]
2. Scroll down to the Other Tax Forms section and click on the Start/Update box next to Miscellaneous Tax Forms. 
3. On the Miscellaneous Tax Forms screen, click on the Start/Update box next to Report an injured or innocent spouse claim.  
4. On the Innocent or Injured Spouse Relief screen, click on the Yes box. 
5. Don't make any entries on the next 2 screens -- just click Continue.  [They apply to Innocent Spouse Relief.]
6. On the screen Let's See if You Qualify for Injured Spouse Relief, mark the appropriate state box and click Continue.  
7. On the screen, Tell Us More About Your Situation, mark the appropriate boxes and click Continue.  
8. On the next screen, mark whether you reported your own federal tax withheld on the joint return.
9. The next screen will tell you if you qualify for injured spouse relief.  Mark the radio button to indicate whether you want to file this claim with your tax return and click Continue.  [You can either file form 8379 along with your tax return, or you can mail it in separately] 
10. Continue through the rest of the interview, entering the requested information

[Edited | 4/9/2020 |  10:27am PDT]

[IreneS]

UPDATED FOR TAX YEAR 2019

Your husband cannot claim you as a dependent on his return because you are married.  Your choices are to file jointly or separately.  In MOST situations it is more beneficial for a married couple to file jointly.  When you file a joint return, you are usually eligible for more credits (child tax credit, education credits, earned income credit, child and dependent care credit.

Keep in mind that if you are married and file separately, you both must itemize your deductions on each of your returns, or both of you must take the standard deduction.  

If you are delinquent on your student loans, your husband can protect his refund from being taken to pay your student loans by requesting injured spouse status.  To do this, complete Form 8379, Injured Spouse Allocation and either include it in your return or file it separately.

The best way to find out if you should file jointly or separately with your spouse is to prepare the tax return both ways. Double check your calculations and then look at the net refund or balance due from each method. If you use TurboTax to prepare your return, we’ll do the calculation for you, and recommend the filing status that gives you the biggest tax savings.

For additional information, see these articles: 

Should You and Your Spouse File Taxes Jointly or Separately?

When Married Filing Separately Will Save You Taxes

[Edited | 4/9/2020 |  10:27am PDT]