Married Filing Joint v. Married Filing Separate

Are you torn between filing jointly with your spouse or separately? This video should help you make that decision. If you find that your refund is being taken by the IRS because your spouse has back debts, this video also tells you how can get the refund that is coming to you as an "injured spouse."

Resources:

The Tax Geek on The Site Formerly known as Twitter: @taxgeekusa

Intro and background music: "Bluesy Vibes" - Doug Maxwell - YouTube Audio Library

DISCLAIMER: This video is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not intended to render tax advice for any specific situation. It you have questions about your specific situation, please check the resources above or consult a qualified tax professional in your community.

The information in this video is based on tax law and IRS regulations as of the date of publication.

[kaylenerasmussen]

THANK YOU! You are the only person that has explained this to me in spite of the many videos I've watched.

[practicallythu]

This video is the most comprehensive, thanks for being so thorough!

[arhini]

Great segment! I have a question: what if you remarry, claim the child when filing jointly, and are both are obligated to disclose if the husband and the (new) wife received child care tax credit, when only one has...Do you enter $1500 for the dad and $0 for the new wife? Please advise and Thanks!!

[psilocybemusashi]

I have a situation which is probably quite common. I have a mortgage in my name and have much higher income.... I came to this video thinking that i could write off my mortgage insurance and itemize while my wife files separately but takes the individual deduction.... seems like that isn't allowed and since it is not then this strategy probably isn't going to benefit us. I think it would be good if you give some of the most common examples where it would benefit the couple to file separately. sounds like those situations are so rare it probably isn't even worth wasting your time on in the video and not worth it for people to waste their time on investigating. anyone it would benefit probably already has a tax accountant.

[bubski]

I'm thinking through a scenario with Roth Conversions for 2023. What if one spouse has virtually no income but wishes to execute Roth Conversion and take advantage of lower rates in their representative bracket. The other spouse has considerable income. Does prospect of filing change benefit the couple? A conversion under MFJ lands in a higher joint marginal rate (depending on conversion amount). Thoughts?

[MarianneRogersOfficial]

We filed as married jointly even if my husband declared that I'm not earning (I work as a Freelance Website Designer). Will there be problems on processing with the spusal visa? Me (Filipino citizen) and my husband (American citizen) are currently living in Mexico as temporary residents and 2021 & 2022 he was mostly outside in the US. We used Turbotax on filing our taxes and they asked me to file W9 form which I have mostly read in the posts to file w7 ( I'm not sure which one). We already filed our taxes and ready to sent the forms and some of my identification info this week. I don't know what's the difference between w7 and w9

[travisthompson]

I make the majority of the money in our household and for whatever reason when filing this year it shows that we would get an additional 1200 filing separately vs jointly. Is this common or do you think we have entered something in error causing this issue? I have always read that you get more tax breaks when filing jointly and should get a better return that way.

[LACoEMT]

I usually file my taxes online, I’m a newly wed, married on November 2022, I noticed the return difference is a lot more than filing separately, question is, do we file under my wife’s new last name or her maiden name? Just curious because she has my last name via marriage certificate but she hasn’t changed it on her ID yet or her other documents? Thanks for the video, it was very helpful

[MagicPiano]

Thank you. I have a question please: If you file MFJ and elect to apply a refund to the following year, but end up filing MFS the following year, who is entitled to the refund?

[curiosity]

Maybe you might be able to address my question. Married and normally file jointly. Really have nothing to deduct other then a current mortgage. My wife makes around 57, 000 in IL and I'm currently on ssdi 22, 488.00 after medicare deductions. Sadly my parents passed away this year but I will gain 94, 000+ from an IRA left in the will. I would like to pay off most the home we have with the money gained. Are there any benefits either way in filing? Thanks in advance for your kind response.

[yuseong__]

I hope you read this !
I'm in a complex tax situation, I am a waitress and this tax return I owe a little over $3k because supposedly of my dependents & not enough taxes was taken out throughout 2021, anyways long story short. Can I file my taxes separately from my husband and use a possible return to pay my spouse's tax liability? Once I added my spouse's w2 information, I ended up owing instead of receiving.

[Kgist]

What about if I’m filing married but separate and we share children. I made more but I want my husband to file his step child (my daughter) and our two children. Can he do that?

[fecollins]

I'm filed married jointly and filed n injured spouse, because my husband owed back taxes. But the CA state taxes take all my refunds to pay what my husband's owed. I still haven't get any info from federal.

[blixasice]

My wife and I are separated this year. We have 2 kids. How do we share tax credit for the kids?

[jerisonbalos]

We just newly married question how do we fillout w4 me and her are working..

[katemmart]

Married filing separately is very common for Americans living over seas with nra spouses. I don't blame Mt husband for not wanting to involve himself in the US tax system.

[jesusistheonlywaytoheavenj]

what is single/ married withhold at single rate...

[anitaginigeme]

What filing option would you recommend to get lower deductions and a potentially bigger refund if you're a US Citizen who got married in the middle of the year to someone who is a non resident alien (lives and works abroad).
Thank you @thetaxgeek