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Deciding on filing together or separately with spouse

kasey-kellar — Sat, 01 Jun 2019 01:44:24 GMT

If you were married at the end of 2016 your filing choice...

xmasbaby0 — Sat, 01 Jun 2019 01:44:26 GMT

If you were married at the end of 2016 your filing choices are married filing jointly or married filing separately.

Married Filing Jointly is usually better, even if one spouse had little or no income. When you file a joint return, you and your spouse will each receive the $4050 personal exemption, plus the married filing jointly standard deduction of $12,600 (add $1250 for each spouse over the age of 65). You are eligible for more credits including education credits, earned income credit, child and dependent care credit, and a larger income limit to receive the child tax credit.

If you choose to file married filing separately, both spouses have to file the same way—either you both itemize or you both use standard deduction. Your tax rate will be higher than on a joint return. Some of the special rules for filing separately include: you cannot get earned income credit, education credits, or deductions for student loan interest. A higher percent of your Social Security benefits may be taxable. In many cases you will not be able to take the child and dependent care credit. If you live in a community property state, you will be required to provide additional information regarding your spouse’s income. If you are using online TurboTax to prepare your returns, you will need to prepare two separate returns and pay twice.

It is uncommon that MFS is a better choice than MFJ. Many...

Howard1948 — Sat, 01 Jun 2019 01:44:28 GMT

It is uncommon that MFS is a better choice than MFJ. Many of the people who believe they are better off MFS think that because they are not preparing their returns properly.

The "Married Filing Separately" filing status carries higher tax rates than the “Married Filing Jointly” filing status. Also, many deductions and credits that are available to MFJ filers are not available to MFS filers. Three well-known such items that are not available to MFS filers are the Earned Income Credit, the Child and Dependent Care Credit and any of the education deduction/credits (American Opportunity, Lifetime Learning, Tuition and Fees Deduction).

Additionally, if one spouse itemizes deductions, the other spouse must also itemize deductions and is precluded from using the standard deduction.

People usually use MFS when they can't agree to file jointly. Occasionally, the right combination of situations will create a smaller total tax than on a joint return, such as when one spouse has significant medical expenses, but it's rare.

About the only advantage to filing separately is that one spouse is not responsible for what's on the other's return (including the tax).

Regarding that last comment, you can still use the MFJ filing status and include a Form 8379 Injured Spouse Claim with your return. This protects any refund of one spouse in a joint return from being used to satisfy the debts and/or obligations of the other spouse. The Form 8379 is included within TurboTax under Federal Taxes, Other.

I am told that married persons filing tax returns in Ohio may be able to benefit from filing their Federal returns separately to significantly reduce their state tax obligations. Ohio filers should take this into consideration in evaluating the above comments.

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