Joint filing

Hello and congratulations on your wedding!

In most situations, filing jointly (MFJ) will result in a lower tax bill for your household in total.  There are certain credits (like the Earned Income Credit, Education Tax Credits, and others) that you will not qualify for if you file separately (MFS), and that will result in you paying more taxes.

In addition, if you live in certain community property states, you will have to deal with allocations on your state returns, that will make those filings more complicated.

Situations where you might benefit from filing separately include:

• Either you or your spouse has significant out-of-pocket medical expenses and you want to itemize your deductions
• Your student loan repayment amount is based on the income of your (MFS) tax return
• You need to protect your refund from your spouse's separate debts

When it is time to file your taxes you can prepare your return as MFJ, write down the results, and adjust the return to MFS to compare.  You can do all of this before your finalize your return.  If you want to get an estimate before tax time, you can use the resources below.

Here is an article that includes information about the refund estimator tool that will give you a feel for the difference between MFJ and MFS:

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/tax-filing-status/compare-married-filing-jointly-married-filing/L6CJYiJ1S_US_en_US

Here is a link with some additional information about filing MFJ vs. MFS:

https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tips/marriage/should-you-and-your-spouse-file-taxes-jointly-or-separately/L7gyjnqyM#GoTo-What-are-the-potential-cons-of-filing-your-tax-returns-separately- 

Regards,

jscottjr_CPA