My girlfriend and I have been discussing and planning for marriage. This year, we decided to do a mock-up of our 2022 tax return as if we were married filing jointly. Filing separately, we are each getting a small return, totaling about $1,200 federal. After putting together our documents and building a married filing jointly return, TurboTax shows that we would owe the IRS about $2,600. That's a $3,800 negative swing. Here's a few more details: Our combined income is about $255,000. She has 3 dependents, and is currently filing as head of household. I have no dependents, and just file as single.
Is there anything I am missing here? What are the benefits for us to file jointly? Right now it looks hugely detrimental. When we get married, should we file as married filing separately, or married filing jointly? Please help us out, because we are not looking to pick up and extra $4,000 tax bill every year. Thank you so much!
