The cost of keeping up a home includes the property taxes, mortgage interest or rent, utilities, repairs and maintenance, property insurance, food and other household expenses. Learn how it'll affect your taxes. There are rules about kids. In some situations, your siblings and in-laws also count if you provide at least half their support.
Be sure to read IRS Publication 17 for specifics. This filing status gets you bigger tax deductions and more favorable tax brackets than if you just filed single. You have time. Then, for the next two years you can use the qualified widow or widower status if you have a dependent child. The kids are key. You also have to provide more than half of the cost of keeping up the house during the tax year.
The qualified widow or widower status lets you file as if you were married filing jointly. That gets you a much higher standard deduction and better tax bracket situation than if you filed as single. You file together.
You report your combined income and deduct your combined allowable deductions and credits on the same forms. You can file a joint return even if one of you had no income or deductions. There are rules about divorce. If you were legally divorced by the last day of the year, the IRS considers you unmarried for the whole year.
Easily calculate your tax rate to make smart financial decisions Get started. Estimate your self-employment tax and eliminate any surprises Get started. Know what dependents credits and deductions you can claim Get started. Know what tax documents you'll need upfront Get started. Learn what education credits and deductions you qualify for and claim them on your tax return Get started. The above article is intended to provide generalized financial information designed to educate a broad segment of the public; it does not give personalized tax, investment, legal, or other business and professional advice.
Skip To Main Content. Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Spotify iHeartRadio Advantages of filing jointly There are many advantages to filing a joint tax return with your spouse. Couples who file together can usually qualify for multiple tax credits such as the: Earned Income Tax Credit American Opportunity and Lifetime Learning Education Tax Credits Exclusion or credit for adoption expenses Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit Joint filers mostly receive higher income thresholds for certain taxes and deductions—this means they can earn a larger amount of income and potentially qualify for certain tax breaks.
Consequences of filing your tax returns separately On the other hand, couples who file separately receive few tax considerations. If you file a separate return from your spouse, you are automatically disqualified from several of the tax deductions and credits mentioned earlier. In addition, separate filers are usually limited to a smaller IRA contribution deduction.
You're going to divorce: If you think you're going to separate from your spouse and want "to avoid liability with your spouse for taxes on their income," you should consider filing separately, says Edward Zollars, a Phoenix, Arizona-based certified public accountant CPA. When filing jointly, "each spouse is responsible for the entire tax due," adds Guglielmetti.
Filing separately keeps those responsibilities separate, and you're only responsible for your own. If you would save more on your taxes by filing separately: This may seem like a no brainer, but if you run the numbers and filing separately would save you more money, then you should probably go that route. To find out which status would benefit you the most, "you can run a side-by-side comparison — or have your tax preparer run it for you — with the outcomes of each filing status," Guglielmetti says.
If you're still unsure of which status makes the most sense for you, you should "consider getting expert tax advice from a CPA or Enrolled Agent," which is a federally-licensed tax practitioner, says Kaleb Paddock , a certified financial planner at Ten Talents Financial Planning. Like this story? Skip Navigation. Jennifer Liu. Filing joint typically provides married couples with the most tax breaks. Another reason to consider filing together is that joint filers are often eligible to receive meaningful savings in the form of tax credits, such as: The Earned Income Tax Credit EITC , which is designed to "benefit for working people with low to moderate income.
List of Partners vendors. Your Money. Personal Finance. Your Practice. Popular Courses. Part Of. Handling Your Money. The Legal Side of Marriage. Marriage and Taxes. Key Takeaways Though most married couples file joint tax returns, filing separately may be better in certain situations. Couples can benefit from filing separately if there's a big disparity in their respective incomes, and the lower-paid spouse is eligible for substantial itemizable deductions. Reasons to file separately can also include separation and pending divorce, and to shield one spouse from tax liability issues for questionable transactions.
Filing separately does carry disadvantages, mainly relating to the loss of tax credits and limits on deductions. Article Sources. Investopedia requires writers to use primary sources to support their work. These include white papers, government data, original reporting, and interviews with industry experts. We also reference original research from other reputable publishers where appropriate.
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