Married filing separately - questions asked on one spouse but not the other

[penguinjaw]

Last year we had a huge expense and had to pull some money out of my IRA (I'm not retirement eligible). I am checking to see what works best for us to file jointly or separately. It appears to be separately, however I am being asked questions on TT about my husbands income.  When I did his taxes separately, these questions weren't asked.  Not sure why. Also regarding that, do I have to give his income on mine if I don't want it included as part of my taxes? Since his would be filed separately? Appreciate any insight.

[KarenM90]

Filing separately seldom works out better.  MFS (Married Filing Separately) is generally a good option if one of the spouses needs to protect themselves from a liability of the other spouse.

The answer to your question about including your spouse's retirement income on your MFS return will depend on the state you are filing in and if the community property laws (if any.)

The states having community property are Louisiana, Arizona, California, Texas, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, and Wisconsin. Community property states follow the rule that all assets acquired during the marriage are considered "community property."

The best way to see if MFS is a better option, is to do your taxes in the CD/Download version of the software, which will allow you to do a comparison. (see the link below)

Here are some helpful links that will give you more details on these scenarios:MFJ or Married Filing Separately? Please be sure to take a look at the related articles at the bottom of this Help Topic which will provide details on the comparison, etc.  

[Opus 17]

When filing separately, your spouse's income is not included, however, you may be asked questions about your spouse's income if you need to qualify for the ACA Premium TaxCredit.

You also have be careful because it is difficult to take a turbotax file previously used to file a joint return and turn it into a separate return, especially if you are the second named taxpayer on the account.  It is preferred to create separate online accounts for creating test MFS returns rather than using a previous MFJ account.