hello I have a question about taxes

Maribelle7777 Posted: Nov 23, 2003 12:54 PM

hello I have a question about taxes

once you and your husband are married.

Do you have to pay more or less taxes now that you are married? Are your wedding gifts taxed? Do you have to report them as gifts?

We have to file jointly when we file in 2005 and I was wondering if we should save some of the gift money if we get hit by Uncle Sam for 2004.

Thanks
Mary
ps: if there are accountants or anyone that does taxes professionally, please FM me b/c I have other questions too.

karen32 Posted: Nov 23, 2003 01:29 PM

Re: hello I have a question about taxes

Mary,

I put some answers here, and then I sent you a FM. Some of the general info can help the other girls.

Gifts - Any single gift <$10,000 not taxable at all and do not get reported.

Any single gift > $10,000 - does need to be reported. The rule is you can receive a gift up to $10k every year from 1 person without tax consequences. If your parents gave you a gift, they can give up to $20k tax free (since they are deemed to be 2 separate people).

Taxes - without knowing your specific financial situation it is hard to say exactly, but here are the rules. When you file a tax return under the Single status, you pay the highest tax rates out here. Theoretically, the Married Filing Jointly status has the lowest tax rates, however, the combination of two incomes usually pushes most people into a high enough tax bracket that the savings is minimal, if any. It is also possible if you have two professional people, making $50k+ each, Married Filing Jointly can actually cost you more in taxes due to the much higher tax bracket you will now be paying in.

Hope this helps!!!

Karen

Sonicstef Posted: Nov 23, 2003 02:50 PM

Re: hello I have a question about taxes

Of course it depends on how much you make jointly and how much you made before - but we (and everyone else we know well enough to know their tax situation) has ended up paying more taxes post wedding. The marriage 'penalty' is being phased out from what I understand but your joint incomes will always push you to a higher tax bracket. The only people who benefit from the married status as far as I know are couples who only have one income.

LisaT Posted: Nov 23, 2003 02:58 PM

Re: hello I have a question about taxes

we definitely paid MORE.

our two incomes, plus my severance package pushed us up up up into the higher tax brackets.

shelzyp Posted: Nov 23, 2003 03:42 PM

Re: hello I have a question about taxes

Actually any gift of 11,000 and under is not taxable. You will lose a bit in the standard deduction of filing married. Also any gift over 11,000 is not taxable to yourself, the person giving the gift is required to file a gift tax return. Also is you get a gift form your parent, each apretn can give each one of you 11,000 for a total of 44,000 from your marreid parents to you and your FH.

karen32 Posted: Nov 23, 2003 04:10 PM

Re: hello I have a question about taxes

did the gift threshhold get raised to $11k?? i know it was $10k for awhile.

MarciaD Posted: Nov 23, 2003 04:29 PM

Re: hello I have a question about taxes

Wow this was a very helpful posting. I was wondering the same things..

Thanks for sharing the info!!

spel Posted: Nov 24, 2003 07:06 PM

Re: hello I have a question about taxes

we got married in october. do we file our taxes for 2003 as married or single??

i need an accountant...

Teri Posted: Nov 24, 2003 07:20 PM

Re: hello I have a question about taxes

we paid more

Oh, and it doesn't matter what time of year you got married - it's not pro-rated monthly or anything.

Niecey Posted: Nov 25, 2003 08:30 AM

Re: hello I have a question about taxes

We paid $$$$ more. It was crazy. The double income killed us. DH did the calcs to find out the difference if we filed single and it was thousands. It was a little hard to swallow...we knew we would be paying more but until we did the math we didn't realize how much more. We were shocked but in talking with all our recently married friends - we all had the same complaint. (spel-I also got married at the end of October last year and legally you are suppose to file as married no matter when in the year you got married and there is no prorated anything...I know people that filed as single and got away with it.)

We bought a house this year so it helps but not much (we have only had the house 6 months of a year). DH already figured out the approx. amount and it will still be a lot. One way to help not have to pay the big chunk in the end is to adjust you federal withholdings - DH has an additional dollar amount he takes out of his check for fed. taxes each check.

mv1003 Posted: Nov 25, 2003 11:28 AM

Re: hello I have a question about taxes

Ok, I'm a bit confused but had the same questions and THOUGHT I had gotten the answer.
What if his parents gave us more than $20K? Will we be taxed b/c that's above $11K each?

and we'll have to file jointly and pay MORE????? Holy cow!!! I've got 2 jobs and DH has 1- oh man- can someone help me- where's an accoutant I can go talk to??

Crisco718 Posted: Nov 25, 2003 11:32 AM

Re: hello I have a question about taxes

The person who gives the gift is responsibel for paying the tax not the receiver. The amount has gone up to $11k, so his parents can give you $22k tax free and anything over they will have to pay gift tax on.