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Spouse & I Secretly Married, Need to File Taxes But Not Alert Parents

OK! So we've got a weird question. My spouse and I married a few months ago, but in secret. Our public wedding with parents, etc isn't until spring of 2020.

 

While this doesn't pose any issue to me and my accountant, she is a minority owner in her parents' business and her taxes are tangled up in that. Her family's accountant does their taxes.

 

Is there any way that anyone here can think of, that she and I could somehow file our taxes correctly, getting the necessary paperwork done, without tipping off her parents' accountant? (My accountant is fine, he knows!)

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3 Replies

Spouse & I Secretly Married, Need to File Taxes But Not Alert Parents

Well you have an issue that the truth would solve ... if you are old enough to be married you are old enough to tell your family.   I would confer with your accountant to see if filing separately will work in your situation ... it would depend on her annual income and the rules for claiming a married dependent.  

rjs
Level 15
Level 15

Spouse & I Secretly Married, Need to File Taxes But Not Alert Parents

Even if you and your wife file separately, the accountant would have to know that she's married if he still prepares her tax return. She would be filing as married filing separately instead of filing as single.


Your wife is a client of her parents' accountant, separate from her parents or the business. Maybe you could try having your wife tell her parents' accountant that she does not want him to prepare her tax return this year. She will have it prepared by someone else, and he should just send her the Schedule K-1 for her share of the business. It's her choice, as a client, to select any tax preparer that she wants. Remind the parents' accountant that he is not allowed to reveal information about a client (your wife) to anyone else.


There's no guarantee that this will work, but it's worth a try. Obviously the accountant is going to wonder what's up. You've got yourselves in a tight spot.


If your wife's parents have been claiming her as a dependent you have an even bigger problem. In that case, there is probably no way to avoid having the accountant know that you got married, and your wife's parents will undoubtedly notice if she's not listed as a dependent on their tax return. The only hope would be that she could still be claimed as a dependent, but it's only in unusual circumstances that a married person can be claimed as a dependent. With income from her parents' business, it's not likely that your wife would meet the requirements. But, as Critter suggested, discuss it with your accountant.

Anonymous
Not applicable

Spouse & I Secretly Married, Need to File Taxes But Not Alert Parents

your only choices for 2019 are married filing joint or married filing separate.  if her accountant doesn't know she's married, he/she will totally screw up the return he prepares for her.  maybe her parents will claim her as a dependent - they can't or maybe he'll file her return as single - wrong.    she's an adult,  she can tell her accountant she's married.  it would be a violation of the tax laws for him/her to convey that info to the parents or even let the parents see her return without her consent.  if he/she does, you spouse can file a complaint with the iRS that will get him/her in much legal trouble.      however, unless her parents are total dummies, they going to realize something is amiss.     Fess up now.  

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