Got married October 31st. Name is changed. Husband filed his taxes as single. What do I file as?

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
January 27, 2025
2 replies
5 views

When my husband filed, it didn't give him the option to switch to married. Because my last name is changed, turbo tax is freaking out when I picked single. If I click married but filing separately, it asks for my spouses info.

Bsch4477

Level 15

Oh my! What a mess. He can’t file as single since he’s married. There is no reason why he can’t file as married jointly and you can use the name that you have on your social security card and file jointly with him on one return. He has to amend his return to file jointly with you.

JerjerAuthor

Level 5

He's not going to be happy about that. I wish he would've just waited till I got my W2s.

Opus 17

Level 15

@Jerjer wrote:

He's not going to be happy about that. I wish he would've just waited till I got my W2s.

Well, yes. And the amend function is usually not available until March, and amended returns take much longer to process.

Your choice is that you must both file separate returns as "married filing separately" or you file one return as "married filing jointly." Single is not allowed. Filing MFS almost always results in paying more tax or getting a smaller refund since MFS has the highest tax rates and many deductions and credits are reduced or disallowed. If you are going to file as MFS, you can do that at any time, and then he must amend from single to MFS when the amending function is available.

Or, to file jointly, he can amend his single return to married and add your income, deductions and credits. This was always available in the program and is not complicated, I'm not sure how he missed it.

VolvoGirl

Level 15

This might be too late since he filed wrong. Here's some general info on getting married. 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 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.

You should usually file a Joint return which is only 1 return combined for the both of you. Make sure to stick with this one account for the future. Just ignore the other spouse's account.

Getting Married FAQ

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/tax-filing-status/help/what-does-getting-married-mean-for-my-taxes/00/1756642

And info on Getting Married…..

http://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/tax-tips/Family/Getting-Married/INF12006.html

Is it better to file Joint or Separately?

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1894449-is-it-better-for-a-married-couple-to-file-jointly-or-separately