I just got married last week and sending my licences off this up coming week. I know its the end of the year so do I file married or separated?

[Hal_Al]

You file as married. Filing status goes by your situation on 12-31-16. So even if your wedding date was December 31st, you are considered married for the whole year, for tax purposes.

" sending my licences off this up coming week" - I assume you mean, you are notifying the Social Security Administration of your name change and/or changing your W-4 withholding at work. . Other than that, there is no notification to the IRS required. You simply start filing as Married Filing Jointly (or in rare cases Married Filing Separately), when you file your 2016 return in early 2017. You may no longer file as Single or Head of Household.

[SteamTrain]

1) It can take several months for the IRS computers to get sync'd with the new SS Name & number.  IF your first e-file is rejected for a name-SSN mismatch, you may need to change your last name to the former one first, and use that...or just keep it with the new name try again 4-weeks later....(up to ~1 April.)

2) When doing a MFJ tax return, where both of you have your own Online accounts, or both were using Desktop...or a mix.....only one person's prior-year tax file can be transferred into the new year's forms, and the other person's information must be added manually from their prior-year printout (usually not much important transfers, unless one person is self-employed or owns rental apartments or depreciating assets).  Whichever person's prior year forms you choose to transfer., that person must be always listed as the First person (Taxpayer) on that new MFJ tax return.  You cannot switch the Taxpayer/Spouse positions it later.

[VolvoGirl]

Some info

https://ttlc.intuit.com/replies/3288477

[VolvoGirl]

Here's a video on getting married
<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/tax-tips/Family/Video--Tax-Tips-for-the-Newly-Married/INF14269...>

[VolvoGirl]

Here's the article I was looking for on getting married
<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/tax-tips/Family/Getting-Married/INF12006.html">https://turbota...>