I guess I just don't quite follow the reasoning behind why people say you get double the standard deduction by filing jointly, if you file separately and take a 12,400 standard deduction each, isnt it effectively the same thing? Granted both spouses make roughly the same annual income.
The reason i'm looking into filing separately is that my spouse will exceed the joint standard deduction amount of 24,800 by itemizing. I don't have much to itemize on my end, so in that scenario what would be the difference between us filing jointly or separately, all of the itemization contributions would mostly be from her end and nothing on mine anyway. I understand that we forfeit several credits by filing separately but in the case those dont apply doesnt the owed tax work out to be the same. I would prefer to keep separate filings just as preference if i have a choice and if we wouldnt end up with a higher tax bill.
