Tis the season... to start thinking about taxes!

erika610

Hey all. This will be our first tax return to file as a married couple, and I have no idea whether or not we should file jointly or seperately. We earn about the same, with both of us working full time. DH went back to school this fall and is enrolled full-time. We don't have kids yet. DH has medical bills from this year that equal about 17% of his income, and 8% of our combined income. Would filing separately or jointly get us the most money back? Who claims head of household, and what is that exactly? Thanks for all your help! This is the first time I've ever had to deal with deductions. 

GilliC

Honestly, I would just talk to an accountant. Especially since a change in filing status is one of the things most likely to trigger a routine audit. Last time my filing status changed, it triggered an audit, and while I wasn't particularly stressed about it, it would have been nice to offload the work of compiling the 200 pages of documentation the IRS asked for.

Ilumine

What GilliC said.  Talk to an accountant.  Use an accountant.  

noffgurl

File jointly. Filing separately is for injured spouse situations (as in one of you owes a significant debt to the IRS). Filing jointly will 8 times out of 10 will get you the most money back since your standard deduction is much more. (I use to handle income taxes)

noffgurl

Also, as a married couple neither of you qualify for Head of Household. Head of Household is for single parents to get a slightly higher standard deduction than the regular single standard deduction.

joleri23

Last year when I did it I tried filing both ways to see what would happen. Holy moly, it was waaaaay cheaper to file jointly! We ended up having to pay in (which I had assumed and was prepared for), and the one lesson it taught me was that if you don't have kids and you make roughly the same amount of money, you should both have the most amount of money withheld from your paychecks if you don't want to have to pay in at the end of the year.