If my wife filed our taxes as married jointly, does that mean I have to do mine as well or no?

[christheman418]

My wife and I are doing our taxes together for the first time and she did them as married jointly. Should I do my taxes as well since she didn’t but my W40?

[TomK2023]

If your wife filed a Married Filing Jointly return, that single return covers both of you. You do not need to (and should not) file a separate individual return.

Both of your incomes, deductions, and credits are combined on a single Form 1040.

If she filed jointly but only included her income and left yours out, the return is incomplete. If that happened, you shouldn't file a new return; instead, you would need to amend the joint return she just filed to add your income.

Both spouses are legally required to sign a joint return (if filing electronically, this is usually done with a PIN or by verifying your prior-year income).

[VolvoGirl]

You have a problem.   Filing Joint is one return for the both of you combined.  You do not file your own return.   You will have to amend her return to add your info.

You should not amend until the first return has fully processed and you get the first refund or your tax due payment has cleared.  But first be sure to save a copy of your original return since the amended return will overwrite it.

You can find Amend under

Federal Taxes or Personal (for Home & Business)

Other Tax Situations

How to Amend this year

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/tax-return/amend-federal-tax-return-curr...

[xmasbaby0]

Newlyweds?

When you file a joint tax return, ALL of the income from both spouses is supposed to go on that ONE tax return.  ALL of your W-2's, all of your 1099's, your dependents, your combined credits and deductions--everything on one tax return for the married couple.   If your income was not included on the return that your spouse already filed, you will have to wait for that return to be fully processed and then amend to include your income.

Wait until your original return has been fully processed before you amend, and make sure you have saved a pdf of the original return before you amend. (If you do not save it as a pdf, the amended return will overwrite the original, and the original will be lost forever)

See this TurboTax support FAQ for amending a tax return -

CURRENT YEAR

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/tax-return/amend-federal-tax-return-curr...

Do not expect quick results from amending. It can take four months or more for the IRS to process an amended return.  

You can watch for information here:

https://www.irs.gov/filing/wheres-my-amended-return