Question about Taxes

my accountant told me that you do slightly better when your married.
Someone at work told me that you are fined or taxed more when your married and do not file jointly. Not sure how excatly true that is so I would like to know too.

My DH is in med school. SO this year he will not be getting a W-2. Does anyone know how I should file?? my freind said I should claim head of household?? WHat does this mean? SO confused!!

it would depend on how much you and your DH earned and such whether its good for you to file as single, MFJ.

since you got married just this year--this would be the last year you can file as 'Single' and then next year it would have to be either MFJ or MFS.

i would speak with your accountant or tax preparer and see what they think. they should be able to do a side by side comparison for you.

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Posted by Bride908

my accountant told me that you do slightly better when your married.
Someone at work told me that you are fined or taxed more when your married and do not file jointly. Not sure how excatly true that is so I would like to know too.

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this is somewhat true

if you file MFS (married filing separate) -- vs MFJ -- you can lose certain credits (especially with children involved) and some are cut in half. i always tell my clients that MFS should be a last resort for most people.

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Posted by Jetsgrl26

We asked our accountant to do the figures both for single and married, and we got more back under married.

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this is probably what we'll do since i am clueless!!!

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Posted by jonsgirl04

My DH is in med school. SO this year he will not be getting a W-2. Does anyone know how I should file?? my freind said I should claim head of household?? WHat does this mean? SO confused!!

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You can not file HOH --unless you have some type of qualifying relative that is NOT your spouse. (I.e.--a child) and you are not married.

So even though he earned no income this year--you can still file as MFJ - you would just be the taxpayer and he is the spouse.

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Posted by MJDoc12

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Posted by Bride908

my accountant told me that you do slightly better when your married.
Someone at work told me that you are fined or taxed more when your married and do not file jointly. Not sure how excatly true that is so I would like to know too.

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this is somewhat true

if you file MFS (married filing separate) -- vs MFJ -- you can lose certain credits (especially with children involved) and some are cut in half. i always tell my clients that MFS should be a last resort for most people.

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tx for the tip

Our accountant said that if we dont file jointly we will get killed. Hope we get some cash back!!!

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Posted by Bride908

tx for the tip

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no prob...this is what i do for a living so i know it can be daunting and overwhelming when you go thru a big tax change in life (such as marriage, kids, etc)

The IRS website is super helpful. I learned a lot there. I was on there last night and read about the 1st Time Homeowner Credit. If u buy a house by June 30, 2009, you can file an amended return and get up to $7500 as an interest-free loan, with no payments due back until 2010. Ummm....guess we'll speed up our house search.

Also, they have explanations for all of the different filing statuses.

jonsgirl04: U can prob file married and just put that your DH is a student---you may even qualify for one of the education tax credits.

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Posted by skinny237

The IRS website is super helpful. I learned a lot there. I was on there last night and read about the 1st Time Homeowner Credit. If u buy a house by June 30, 2009, you can file an amended return and get up to $7500 as an interest-free loan, with no payments due back until 2010. Ummm....guess we'll speed up our house search.

Also, they have explanations for all of the different filing statuses.

jonsgirl04: U can prob file married and just put that your DH is a student---you may even qualify for one of the education tax credits.

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Thanks ladies!! Schooling is killing us, but will be worth it when he graduates!!!

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Posted by jonsgirl04

My DH is in med school. SO this year he will not be getting a W-2. Does anyone know how I should file?? my freind said I should claim head of household?? WHat does this mean? SO confused!!

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you maybe able to claim him as a dependent....if he has no income and you supported him....
talk to your accountant...

overall, generally speaking you will do better filing together

Anyone that is paying school loans back - this is a write off. Anyone that is currently in school or their DH is in school - this is a right off. Anything that you donated is a write off (BM dresses, wedding gown, clothes, etc.).

Our accountant is going to see which way we will get more money back. You can't just make the decision before hand bc you don't know. Do it both ways to see what would be better.

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Posted by Mimacat

I'm confused too, b/c I thought twice the money = higher tax bracket = more taxes, but I'm very naive in this area, so I really don't know. I paid insane taxes last year, so I want to try and save as much as possible...

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Not true. Remember that on your W-4s you claim 1. Well so does your DH. So when you file jointly it's the combined salaries, but 2 dependents.