Doing my taxes tonight...

...and i'm pretty sure my accountant is gonna lambast me for changing my name in 2010. He strongly advised me against doing this and I was just so excited to be married that I didn't think twice about it.

If you changed your name and filed as a married couple what was your experience? I know it is so different for everyone but he was so adamant about me waiting....

Re: Doing my taxes tonight...

my accountant is pretty much on the straight and narrow.. he said that no matter if you are married january 1 or dec 31 you must file as married in that year (and by must he meant it is more expensive to file separately). tho I know couples who try to file separately (but i think there is some funny business of each claiming dependants etc obviously some type of financial interest that may or may not be legitimate.. im not an accountant).

and so i filed jointly. we got a sweet federal return (i own my apartment) but we owe on the state side bc of my husband. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR so bitter.

(anyone else having a hard time being a TEAM player sometimes with these kinda things lol)

Re: Doing my taxes tonight...

since I do my own taxes, I did what I wanted. so long as you changed your name with social security, you should be fine.

Re: Doing my taxes tonight...

I'm an accountant and filed married jointly with changed name...why do you think its going to be an issue? It shouldn't be any different, name or not---I'm not a tax practicing accountant but still, I don't get why? Did he say why?

Re: Doing my taxes tonight...

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Posted by rdubs

I'm an accountant and filed married jointly with changed name...why do you think its going to be an issue? It shouldn't be any different, name or not---I'm not a tax practicing accountant but still, I don't get why? Did he say why?

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He mentioned a 'marriage penalty'....I studied biology and then economics so I don't have a clue about accounting.

It didn't impact us this year but he said next year we will get hit.

Re: Doing my taxes tonight...

i dunno we filed together and got a sweet refund!

Re: Doing my taxes tonight...

From Wiki: 'The marriage penalty in the United States refers to the higher taxes required from some married couples, where spouses are making approximately the same taxable income, filing one tax return ('married filing jointly') than for the same two people filing two separate tax returns if they were unmarried (i.e. filing as 'single', not 'married filing separately'). The percentage of couples affected has varied over the years, depending on shifts in tax rates.'

I always thought of the marriage penalty as a figure of speech but I guess it isn't! Legally, you are married now and whether you changed your name or not, you are supposed to file married jointly or separately. The IRS won't chase you down if you both filed single this year but technically you are supposed to report a 'life change.' So if you are filing one of the married statuses (as you are supposed to), it doesn't matter if you changed your name or not.

We both always end up paying taxes each year due to investments so we didn't see a change this year when we filed married jointly (still owed a boatload of money). Not sure I'm helping you much but hopefully your accountant won't yell at you!

Re: Doing my taxes tonight...

I actually had a problem last year. Since we were obviously married in 2010, our 2009 taxes were done separately. However, I changed my name in early January 2010, so by the time I filed my 09 taxes in march, my name was different. Anyway, it totally confused the IRS and delayed my refund. It was a pain to fix but other then that no problems and definitely no penalities.

Re: Doing my taxes tonight...

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Posted by rdubs

From Wiki: 'The marriage penalty in the United States refers to the higher taxes required from some married couples, where spouses are making approximately the same taxable income, filing one tax return ('married filing jointly') than for the same two people filing two separate tax returns if they were unmarried (i.e. filing as 'single', not 'married filing separately'). The percentage of couples affected has varied over the years, depending on shifts in tax rates.'

I always thought of the marriage penalty as a figure of speech but I guess it isn't! Legally, you are married now and whether you changed your name or not, you are supposed to file married jointly or separately. The IRS won't chase you down if you both filed single this year but technically you are supposed to report a 'life change.' So if you are filing one of the married statuses (as you are supposed to), it doesn't matter if you changed your name or not.

We both always end up paying taxes each year due to investments so we didn't see a change this year when we filed married jointly (still owed a boatload of money). Not sure I'm helping you much but hopefully your accountant won't yell at you!

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I know I have to owe this year - wah!

Re: Doing my taxes tonight...

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Posted by rdubs

From Wiki: 'The marriage penalty in the United States refers to the higher taxes required from some married couples, where spouses are making approximately the same taxable income, filing one tax return ('married filing jointly') than for the same two people filing two separate tax returns if they were unmarried (i.e. filing as 'single', not 'married filing separately'). The percentage of couples affected has varied over the years, depending on shifts in tax rates.'

I always thought of the marriage penalty as a figure of speech but I guess it isn't! Legally, you are married now and whether you changed your name or not, you are supposed to file married jointly or separately. The IRS won't chase you down if you both filed single this year but technically you are supposed to report a 'life change.' So if you are filing one of the married statuses (as you are supposed to), it doesn't matter if you changed your name or not.

We both always end up paying taxes each year due to investments so we didn't see a change this year when we filed married jointly (still owed a boatload of money). Not sure I'm helping you much but hopefully your accountant won't yell at you!

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Many thanks! I also thought 'marriage penalty' was a figure of speech. My accountant has been doing my parent's taxes for over 20 years and both of my parents have had their own businesses over the years so they trust him inherently. He's a really funny older man with the driest sense of humor - which I love. I was partly teasing about him 'yelling' at us...it is in an endearing kinda way. But again, thank you - you did help me to better understand what he is referring to!

He also kept shouting 'you guys need to buy a house' and I was like a-men!