Hi Tiffani!
Congrats on the upcoming wedding! If you marry before the end of the year, you are considered married for the entire year. You would be able to file married filing jointly or married filing separately.
If one of you makes significantly more than the other, combining your incomes on a joint return could pull some of the higher earner's income into a lower tax bracket. This is often called the "marriage bonus".
On the other hand, if your incomes are relatively equal, it may not be as favorable to combine incomes. The best way to preview what it will be like to file together is to use our Refund Calculator - How can I compare Married Filing Jointly with Married Filing Separately?
Marriage can be beneficial taxwise. One benefit is that married couples who file jointly can get higher breaks than they did when they were single. For instance, the student loan interest deduction and other credits have income phaseout limits. If your income is over those levels, you lose some of the credit. The limits are based on your filing status and married filing jointly comes with higher limits.
Filing separately is usually not advantageous in most cases. It limits some deductions. An example would be the student loan interest deduction I mentioned above. It isn't available if you file separately.
This is a great resource - Getting Married: What Newlyweds Need to Know
