Get your taxes done using TurboTax

Your situation is possible.  As expected, your federal taxes are higher.  Your state taxes are lower, possibly due to how the state brackets are arranged, but we can't see your return to know for sure.  I found the same was true for my wife and myself several years ago, although the dollar advantage was less.

 

You need to make sure you don't make one specific mistake.  When filing separately, both spouses must use the standard deduction or both spouses must itemize their deductions, even if there are not enough deductions to go around.  It is not allowed to stack all the deductions on one spouse and have the other spouse claim the standard deduction. 

 

I have not played around with the "test separate filing" button in many years, so I don't know if it is completely accurate.  Filing separately changes several tax credits and deductions that you might or might not be claiming.  You will have to actually prepare your two separate returns to see if the numbers hold up.  If filing online, this means you need two separate accounts with different logins, and you will pay two Turbotax fees, although you don't have to pay until you confirm the expected savings and are ready to transmit the returns.