If you are "IN FACT" self-employed as a sole proprietor or single member LLC, it *DOES* *NOT* *MATTER* if you are filing a joint return or not. A sole proprietorship or single member LLC can only have one owner, and one owner only. It does not matter if that one owner is filing a joint return with their spouse.
So if you are filing a joint return and are self-employed, only *ONE* of the two joint filers can be the owner of the business.
The above may not be accurate if you live in a community property state.
In the community property states of Louisiana, Arizona, California, Texas, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, and Wisconsin if you have a multi-member LLC where there are only two owners, those two owners are legally married to each other, and those two owners will be filing a joint 1040 tax return, they have the option of splitting all business income and expenses down the middle and each partner reporting their share of the business income/expenses on a separate SCH C for each tax filer on the joint return. That means your joint 1040 return will have two SCH C’s included with it – one for each owner. But this can present its own problems in the event of divorce, separation. The issues can become even more compounded upon the death of one of the owners. If that deceased owner’s will does not pass all assets to the surviving partner, then that surviving partner can find themselves in a tax hell, not to mention the problems that can arise with the “new” owner or owners.
