So, my accountant told me that we HAD to file married jointly because I already changed my name with Social Security. He said it often doesn't work out when filing married single. That's odd, because I thought it was the other way around.
joan_db
Posted:
Member since
Re: Learned some new things about taxes tonight
No offend to your accountant - thats not really true. You can always file married separately but usually you pay better taxes if you file married jointly.
Dani731
Posted:
Member since
Re: Learned some new things about taxes tonight
Posted by joan_db
No offend to your accountant - thats not really true. You can always file married separately but usually you pay better taxes if you file married jointly.
Exactly, you don't have to. When you file seperately, you still have to put your spouse's full name & SS# on your return. you just don't include their income.
It usually works out better to file jointly because certain credits & deductions can not be claimed if you file seperately.
HeatherRose
Posted:
Member since
Re: Learned some new things about taxes tonight
you also have to pay a small pentlty tax if you file married filing single.. it has nothing to do with your name. usually you would only file married single if one or both of you have huge deductions that will not help if you file married joint, and it will out weight the pentlty
PegaLega
Posted:
Member since
Re: Learned some new things about taxes tonight
I always thought you could file either way-regardless of your name
HeatherRose
Posted:
Member since
Re: Learned some new things about taxes tonight
once you are legally married you must file as Married, but you can file married joint, or married single. Single- you will have a penelty but, if one or both of you have a lot of deductions, sometimes its worth it, ie: medical bills etc. but no matter what you have to check the box married. even if you were only married for one day of the year.
HeatherRose
Posted:
Member since
Re: Learned some new things about taxes tonight
it also doesn't matter what your name is wether you have changed it or not, it doesn't go by that, it goes by the marriage certificate that you obtained with the state that is linked to your social #
Jennifer907
Posted:
Member since
Re: Learned some new things about taxes tonight
Yeah, I think he meant that because I changed my name, we couldn't file as single. I already knew this, but he made it seem like an option. I don't think so. It all worked out in the end. Thankfully I mentioned DH is a firefighter becuase apparently there's a credit for volunteer firefighters that we didn't know about.
He's DHs family accountant. We decided to use him as opposed to mine this year. I hate changes like that.
August12
Posted:
Member since
Re: Learned some new things about taxes tonight
My accountant said the same thing. However, you can file married filed joint or married filed separately
