My wife and I were married Nov 2007. This year we've talked about consolidating our taxes jointly.

We also are closing on a house next week.

Question is, is this always a good idea to do for your taxes? What are the pro's and con's (if any) to this plan? Does it depend on our invidiual incomes, etc?

2/14/2008 12:32:38 PM

it depends on your taxable incomes - you should be able to look at http://www.irs.gov/formspubs/article/0,,id=164272,00.html and pretty easily determine what is the best for you

i'm pretty certain this has been covered before - if someone finds the thread let me know and i'll lock this one and bttt the other

2/14/2008 12:52:47 PM

For most couples, it makes absolutely no sense to file separately because joint filers usually owe less in taxes than individual filers. This article sums up why:

http://www.babycenter.com/400_should-my-spouse-and-i-file-our-taxes-jointly-or-separately_506657_1001.bc

My husband and I file jointly. My husband always had owed money to the government and I always came out even until we married and started filing jointly. Together, we end up getting a refund.

2/14/2008 12:54:10 PM

Damn that's confusing. According to the chart it would NOT make sense to file jointly..correct me if i'm missing something.

I make 66,000 a year with a variable bonus of about 5,000 a year.
She makes about 29,400 a year.

2/14/2008 12:58:12 PM

heh my math sucks

2/14/2008 1:03:55 PM

^^i think you actually pay about $400 less if you file jointly. my math could be wrong though.

(12486.25+(71000-64250)*.28)+(782.50+(29400-7825)*.15) = $18395 (seperate)

8772.50+(((71000+29400)-63700)*.25) = $17948 (jointly)

[Edited on February 14, 2008 at 1:08 PM. Reason : d]

2/14/2008 1:04:47 PM

no there's no other piece other than hmmmm , well she's a school teacher (shouldnt matter).

Oh well we just bought a house that will close next week and that's a loan where we pay 1300/month or so on a roughly 6% loan. You can deduct that interest right? Or is that irrelevant for 'taxable income'

2/14/2008 1:08:11 PM

yes, you can treat interest as an itemized deduction. it's awesome.

but yes, its irrelevent for taxable incomes.

[Edited on February 14, 2008 at 1:15 PM. Reason : f]

2/14/2008 1:09:47 PM

damn thanks for that math. It's helpful and i have no accountant, just need the guidance on whether it is worth it to switch to joint

2/14/2008 1:22:13 PM

here's what you do... get the free turbotax software, and fill it out both ways. whichever gives you the best refund, use it.

2/14/2008 1:27:31 PM

didnt know turbotax had a free version? Thought it was like 40-60 bucks?

2/14/2008 1:49:41 PM

you only pay when you submit it to the irs.

so you can see what your refund is before paying.

a couple years ago i actually tried several different program before submitting. H&R block's gave me the biggest refund.

[Edited on February 14, 2008 at 1:53 PM. Reason : d]

2/14/2008 1:50:54 PM

He makes too much to use it free, and on that note buy it cheapass, its $40.

2/14/2008 1:52:04 PM

last year i did taxact.com that's free, worked well.

recommend a version, i'm not cheap, just tell me which one can do fed and state and is 40 bucks and i'll buy it.

2/14/2008 1:55:33 PM

Over the last few years I have done several hundred returns and there was only one situation where it made more sense to file separately rather than jointly. Both people had similar income (about $40,000) and significant itemized deductions. They ended up saving about $40 in the end by filing separately. However, when I told them they had to pay me twice since I was filing two returns they went back to Married Filing Joint.

Other times you would do it separately is when you cant agree to file a joint return or you dont want to share in your spouses tax liability.

2/14/2008 2:13:32 PM

Quote :

"He makes too much to use it free, and on that note buy it cheapass, its $40."

I have a free CD, which I got through the mail, that allows you to use it before you buy the product for submission.

obviously you would pay for it when you submitted the info.

2/14/2008 2:45:00 PM

just in case you don't know, you can't deduct any interest you pay towards that house until next year. thats pretty obvious but THE MORE YOU KNOW.

2/14/2008 2:54:02 PM

i can't deduckt housing intrest from 2008 on my 07 return????????? no wai

2/14/2008 2:56:48 PM

yeah i know. thanks for pointing out though.

2/14/2008 3:00:43 PM

^^ well he was asking about it for his 07 return so i wasn't sure. and really getting tax advice from tww tells me he really might not know. no offense, kainen.

2/14/2008 3:19:04 PM

oh no!!! why did you have to get married!!!???

2/14/2008 3:38:05 PM

Why terpball? You want some of me you big sexy stud!

And no offense taken DM. I like getting advice from tww...but you REALLY have to average and selectively filter things out. It's all about the aggregate.

2/14/2008 4:05:52 PM

the best solution, if you must get married, is to keep your finances as seperate as possible from hers.

2/14/2008 4:20:57 PM

hopefully this doesn't derail the entire discussion

theduke has been so jaded from his bad experience(s) with his ex that it's almost safe to ignore his comments on these kinds of topics

not to say mine are worth more - but i'd bet his advice would cause more arguments over money instead of less - of course there are exceptions but a majority of married couples keep their finances today successfully and without trouble

2/14/2008 4:42:12 PM

it's not just my own bad experience

2/14/2008 5:06:31 PM

fucking go fill it out both ways and take the higher of the two. jesus christ people are retarded.

gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooogle

2/14/2008 5:11:57 PM

yeah, that too

2/14/2008 5:13:53 PM

I didn't ask my original question because I'm currently DOING my taxes....it's about figuring out whether or not I should go ahead and go through the administrative bullshit at my company to refile joint and combine or not.

Comparing returns on turbotax is not something I'll get to for another 3 weeks when I actually do my taxes. So fuck off bous.

2/14/2008 5:22:29 PM

Quote :

"it's about figuring out whether or not I should go ahead and go through the administrative bullshit at my company to refile joint and combine or not."

what would you do through your company that would change whether or not you file separately or not...administrative bullshit?

not that there is any administrative bullshit to do but n any changes made now would effect next year and not this one

2/14/2008 5:46:54 PM

I didn't pose the question because I expected 07 taxes to be impacted at all by this.

If anything my question was prompted because it is the relevancy of 'taxtime' ...and it brought up the point to get our stuff together for our 08 returns.

This has nothing to do with chanigng what happens for 07, although i can see how that would be confusing since we're in the middle of it.

2/14/2008 6:22:04 PM

hah what!?!?

I guess we can just delete this thread and start over then - basically all of the advice was given in this thread based on filing taxes this year

all of the relevant information given makes it only possible to answer the question the way it was - not for some future year where your incomes will be different and include mortgage interest

when people ask what i'm doing for christmas I tell them what i'm doing the current year not the next....

[Edited on February 14, 2008 at 6:35 PM. Reason : wtf]

2/14/2008 6:33:50 PM

i'm ASSUMING that this thread is mainly about correctly filling out your W4s so that you don't owe or get a huge refund for your 08 taxes. The best way to do this is to follow the W4 worksheets.

2/14/2008 6:42:27 PM

it does look like he's confusing the two - they are completely separate independent processes though

2/14/2008 6:45:11 PM

actually ^^ brings up a good question for me.

i mistakenly didn't update my w4, it's a 2 and should have been a 6.

what calculator is available online that would show me how much i screwed myself by not changing in time?

[Edited on February 15, 2008 at 8:30 PM. Reason : eh]

2/15/2008 8:25:07 PM

"Hey, what are you guys doing for spring break??"


"No, i meant spring break 2010 lol"

2/16/2008 10:27:01 AM

^^

you should be able to change your W-4 elections at any time. go to your HR department and ask how.

2/16/2008 1:38:45 PM