I am not sure if it would be benefial to file as single or married and one of the first questions is how do you want to file.....dont know yet. will I have the option of changing this?
Use this IRS program to find your legal filing status. https://www.irs.gov/help/ita/what-is-my-filing-status
Thx for the reply; However, this took me to what happens if my spouse died in 2020. quite the oposite - I got married, moved to a new state and have employement in two states. I am trying to find information on the pros and cons for filing maried joint or individually. Thanks, MK
This should answer your question https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/married/help/is-it-better-for-a-married-couple-to-file-jointly-or-separately/00/25590
If you are married on Dec 31 you can only file a Joint return or as Married filing Separately
You should usually file a Joint return which is only 1 return combined for the both of you. Joint has the lowest tax rates and the highest Standard Deduction. And if you are in a Community Property state MFS gets tricky to figure out. Make sure to stick with this one account for the future. Just ignore the other spouse's account.
And info on Getting Married…..
https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tips/marriage/getting-married/L0DvEUlEC
Is it better to file Joint or Separately?
https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1894449-is-it-better-for-a-married-couple-to-file-jointly-or-separately
If you both used Turbo Tax last year......You can not transfer from or combine 2 returns or accounts. Just pick the return for the spouse that has the most complicated return to enter or has any depreciation or business or more investments. Or use the account/return for whoever you want to be listed first going forward (by the way you can not change the order of the names). Then add the other spouse's name, ssn and info to it.