One Spouse on SSDI

[mimsy]

Edit** Please explain to me like Im a child. And please try to answer my specific concerns, not give me generalized fact; it starts to become too complicated when I try to apply general facts to my very specific situation. I am disabled and doing my best. Please keep this is mind when responding. I am not cognitively able to process complex statements. 

Im sorry, Im so confused and can hardly understand half the things Im reading. My partner and I want to get married. We are confused about what tax deductions we would qualify for if any. Our combined income after marriage would be probably just a little under 100k annually. My part of that is SSDI, about 14.6k. 

 If I understand correctly, that now means up to 85% of my SSDI becomes taxable?? So about 12.4k is taxable, I'd assume in the tax bracket we'd belong to, which would be 22%? So my spouse is just expected to cover an additional 2k on my behalf? Because where am I supposed to be getting 2k from?? I have to give up over 2 months of my scraps to come up with that, leaving my partner to cover all of our expenses for 2 months alone. This seems so backwards.

It seems like we wouldnt qualify for the elderly/disabled deduction? I dont really understand. I see some articles say one spouse can qualify while the other doesnt, but that doesnt make sense if the income is joint.

Because our combined income clearly isnt poverty, despite mine surely being, am i to assume we wouldnt qualify for ANY kind of useful deductions?? That seems so sad. I dont want to have to rely on my spouse to pay my newly acquired taxes. He does make a decent amount, but he also has bills of his own, college loans to pay off, dreams he'd like to achieve some day. It just doesnt seem fair to him, especially when he pays for the majority of things as is, considering im not nearly as financially nor physically able to.

Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated. Im so stressed. I was so happy to marry my partner and now it seems like its just going to be a weight on his life. 

[xmasbaby0]

When you file a joint tax return you have to include ALL of your combined income, which of course means you have to enter your SSA1099 for the Social Security.   UP to 85% of the SS could be taxable -- depending on the other income you receive the percent of your SS that is taxable could be less than that.       But if you file married filing separately, MORE of your SS would be taxable.    If you are legally married, your filing choices are to file jointly or married filing separately.   Joint is almost always better.

No, you would not get the "elderly or disabled credit."   That credit has not been increased in decades and is so low that very few people are eligible to get it.

Before you get too upset with this-----why not try entering your numbers into a "dummy" account  or "dummy" tax return to see where you would stand with a joint return.    Look at lines 6a and 6b of your Form 1040 to see how much of your SS is taxable.

Or....try the Taxcaster tool to get an estimate.

https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/calculators/taxcaster/

[AmeliesUncle · Accepted solution]

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@mimsy wrote:

(1) If I understand correctly, that now means up to 85% of my SSDI becomes taxable?? So about 12.4k is taxable,

(2) I'd assume in the tax bracket we'd belong to, which would be 22%?

(3) So my spouse is just expected to cover an additional 2k on my behalf? Because where am I supposed to be getting 2k from??  This seems so backwards.

(4) It seems like we wouldnt qualify for the elderly/disabled deduction? I dont really understand. I see some articles say one spouse can qualify while the other doesnt, but that doesnt make sense if the income is joint.

(5) Because our combined income clearly isnt poverty, despite mine surely being, am i to assume we wouldnt qualify for ANY kind of useful deductions?? 

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(1) Yes.

(2) No, if you file Jointly, after the Standard Deduction, you will likely be in the 12% Federal tax bracket.  That means the sort-of direct Federal tax is more like $1500 (rules for States vary).

(3) No, if you file a Joint tax return, your spouse will end up paying LESS tax.   To put it simply (1) The increased Standard Deduction (filing Jointly) will eliminate the tax on your SSDI, and (2) the 'tax brackets' are better for Joint.  As I mentioned before, a Joint tax return will likely be in the 12% tax bracket.   Before you got married, your partner was likely "Single" and with $80,000+ of income, much of that was in the 22% tax bracket.  Now it is down to 12% because you are married (assuming you file Jointly).

(4) Correct.

(5) It is difficult to say because we don't know any of your other circumstances.  That is why it is important to go through ALL of the questions in the tax program (or go to a tax professional to help you).

[mimsy]

Thank you!!! You said this all clearly. I had totally forgotten about the standard deduction. Blinded by stress and worry. Thank you a million times again. 

[Opus 17]

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@mimsy wrote:

Thank you!!! You said this all clearly. I had totally forgotten about the standard deduction. Blinded by stress and worry. Thank you a million times again. 

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Also note that if you filed as "married filing separately," 85% of your SS benefit is automatically subject to tax.  It would be covered by your standard deduction (unless your spouse itemizes), but your spouse would also be getting a smaller standard deduction and paying the higher MFS tax brackets.

It would not hurt to test it both ways (and don't forget state taxes).  For a few years, my wife and I filed MFS because, even though we lost about $1000 on federal, we gained about $1500 on state.  But the only way to know for you is to test your particular combination of circumstances.   MFJ is almost always better overall.