If You File Jointly How Do You Know How Much Money Each Person Made

7 Min Read | February 17, 2022

Romantic or non, taxes are a office of life. And now that you and your spouse are officially a part of each other's lives, yous starry-eyed lovebirds can now change your filing status to married filing jointly.

It's non the date night you were expecting, right?

Well, don't feel bad. Every married couple has to exercise their taxes. Even the most perfect Nicholas Sparks couple has to fill out their Class 1040 at some point. But what does married filing jointly mean? And how is it different than married filing separately? Allow's dig a little deeper and find out.

What Is Married Filing Jointly?

Married filing jointly (or MFJ for short) means you lot and your spouse fill out 1 tax render together.

Now, don't get us wrong: Y'all don't have to file jointly. You could file separately. But information technology's rare (like 4-foliage clover rare) to find yourself in a situation in which filing separately is improve than jointly. Nosotros'll talk more than about those situations below.

Who Can File Jointly?

If you lot only got married, congrats! But you may not exist able to file jointly just yet.

Taxes shouldn't exist this complicated. Let united states assistance.

Y'all need to have been married before January one of this year to file concluding year's taxes jointly. So if you got married on Dec 31 of concluding yr or earlier, you can file together. But if you got married on or after January ane of this year, you must file separately this taxation season.

How Do You File Jointly?

Filing your taxes jointly isn't that different from filing as unmarried or caput of household. You and your spouse still have to report your income and list deductions and credits. The biggest difference is that you lot'll choose married filing jointly equally your filing status instead of the others.

Merely if this is your commencement revenue enhancement season as husband and wife, you'll need to take care of a couple of things offset:

If this is your first taxation season as married man and wife, you'll need to take care of a couple of things first.

ane. Notify the IRS of any address changes.

If you moved, be sure to notify the IRS of your address modify by filing Form 8822.

2. Tell your employer y'all've moved.

Don't forget to let your employer know of any changes to your name and/or accost and then your W-2 arrives on fourth dimension and in good lodge.

3. Report whatever proper name changes.

Did you take your spouse's concluding name? Well, brand certain you tell the Social Security Assistants so the name next to your Social Security number matches the proper name on your tax forms. If you lot don't, the IRS will hold your taxation refund until you resolve the issue. Make full out Course SS-v and file it at your local Social Security office.

Now, if you don't have time to alter your proper name before the tax deadline, you can file using your maiden name. But brand sure y'all take care of the name change past adjacent year.

Can Y'all File Jointly if Yous're Widowed?

Aye. If your spouse passed away during the past tax year, you can file jointly for that year. After that, you accept to file as a qualifying widow or widower, head of household or single filer.

Married Filing Jointly vs. Married Filing Separately

As we said before, the IRS doesn't strength you to file jointly. You tin can ever file separately. Married filing separately is a filing status for married couples who, for whatever reason, decide, "Meh, we don't desire to do our taxes together." As a married couple, you should merge your finances, but there may be a tax nuance or ii that could cause you to consider filing a separate return.

When practise you desire to file separately?

Basically, our rule of thumb is this: File separately when it saves you money. Whichever filing status puts more than coin in your pocket (or takes less coin out of it), that's the filing status we recommend.

It's rare that filing separately will mean more money for you. But at that place are some circumstances in which this is the example, like these:

i. Your spouse isn't paying their taxes.

Your spouse may play "catch me if you tin can" with the IRS and non pay their taxes. We don't recommend this but, in that case, y'all should definitely file your taxes.

two. Y'all don't know if your spouse is honestly reporting their income or deductions.

Remember: When you file jointly, y'all're both held responsible for the accuracy of your tax returns. If your spouse has intentionally reported false numbers, the IRS volition see you lot as a partner in crime.

3. Y'all or your spouse desire to claim medical debt as a deduction.

If you or your spouse had medical bills last year, you may exist able to deduct some of it. How much you can deduct depends on how much money you brand.

Basically, the more income y'all make, the less you can deduct from your medical expenses. And sometimes you brand so much you tin can't deduct anything. And so if your spouse makes a lot more than you do and you file jointly, your medical deduction will be a lot less than if you file separately.

Figuring out which manner works all-time can be mathematically intense. If you're not certain, accept your case to a tax pro and permit them practise the math for yous to be safety.

What are the advantages of married filing jointly?

More likely than non, you're better off filing jointly. Here are a few reasons why:

i. You take a college standard deduction.

If you lot file separately, you only go a $12,000 standard deduction. Filing jointly doubles that amount to $24,000. Yes, that's right. We said $24,000! Most tax filers can substantially lower their taxable income with that.

2. Y'all get more tax credits.

Tax credits are like gift cards from the IRS—they apply to your concluding revenue enhancement bill and reduce it dollar-per-dollar. Call it a late wedding present (or an anniversary gift), but the IRS gives more taxation credits to married couples filing jointly than to couples filing separately.

If y'all're married filing jointly, then you may authorize for some of these tax credits:

Earned Income Tax Credit
Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit
Adoption Credit
Credit for the Elderly and Disabled
American Opportunity Credit
Lifetime Opportunity Credit for Higher Educational activity Expenses

Now, only to be clear: You can become these credits if your filing condition is married filing jointly, unmarried or caput of household. But if you're married filing separately, you won't be eligible.

three. Y'all can save time.

We can't overstate this. When you file jointly, you only have to fill out one tax return—not two. Then you lot're saving fourth dimension. And if you're using a tax pro, filing separately could cost you more money.

four. Filing jointly is less complicated.

When y'all file separately, you have to follow certain rules that can make your 24-hour interval a piddling thornier. For example, only i of yous can merits your kid as a dependent. On top of that, you'll have to agree on whether you'll accept the standard deduction or itemize. Yep. No reddish picking. If your spouse wants to catalog, then you have to itemize.

Want to Spend Less Time on Taxes and More Time With Your Spouse?

Every marriage hits a speed bump every now and then, just taxes don't have to be i of them. If you have a relatively simple tax return and want to endeavor filing your taxes on your own, bank check out RamseySmartTax.

If you take a complicated taxation situation or yous're non sure whether you should file jointly or separately, working with a tax pro is probable your smartest pick. And if you're looking for a trustworthy taxation adept in your area, we can help! We've vetted some of the all-time tax pros in the land. They have years of feel and, believe information technology or non, they love this stuff. Our pros can talk taxes all day! They have a thorough agreement of the taxation changes this yr and how they affect y'all and your spouse. The sooner you connect with a pro, the sooner you tin can check taxes off your to-do list and get back to more than, well, romantic things.

Find a taxation expert today!

Ramsey Solutions

Near the writer