@ssam2020 this isn't an issue of 'fairness', it's an issue of how Congress passed the law - it's that simple. It was deemed fair when a majority of the House and a majority of the Senate sent the bill to the president, who signed it into law. All our representatives determined it was fair.
You haven't mentioned why you are filing Separate, but that in of itself may be the strategy to resolve this issue. Are you willing to explain (this board is anonymous). Filing Separate is simply not a good financial outcome - the laws were not written to make it financially advantageous.
By chance, is there a back taxes or back child support issue (or something similar) that is driving filing Separate? Many beleive that the way to protect their refund from the other spouse's past transgressions is to file Separate. Rather, the way to go is file Joint and file the Injured Spouse Form, which protects the refund. So it is the same refund protection as filing Separate but with the benefits of filing Joint.
https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-8379)
