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You are lucky! Unfortunately, we are getting no money back and actually paying in! I think my husband's W-4 is filled out wrong. I thought we should file separately because I make significantly more, but he has to pay in $750!! We essentially cancelled each other out.
I thought we were going to have to end up paying a ton, but it turns out that we're getting a nice refund too. I have no idea why/how, but I'm not complaining!
We did fairly well this year, our accountant figured our taxes jointly and separately to see which was best. We ended up filing jointly.
Neither of us changed the amount of taxes taken out of our paycheck so we had a lot more taken out than we needed to. I don't know about you ladies, but I don't mind a few less bucks in my paycheck each week if it means a nice return come tax season!
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You will also see a nice refund if you're paying mortgage interest, insurance and student loan interest.
We're getting like $3k, but that's not nearly as much as I'd hoped for after filing singly all of last year. :(
I am so glad it worked for you, but we got hit with the marriage penalty BIG TIME! Grrrrrrrrrrr!
We decided to run the numbers just to see how the change to filing jointy would effect us next year...and Mrs. Cookie we will be right there with you in marriage tax land. Unless something changes in the tax law between now and next year it is going to be REALLY, REALLY painful for us. It's almost like we'll be getting fined for getting married!
I was just reading an article on this on thenest.com. For most couples, you are better off to file jointly, but of course there are always exceptions.
I just got married in January 2009. That would obviously mean we can't file jointly, correct?
nada122, you will be able to file jointly next year (for your 2009 taxes).
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I'm a tax novice, I thought it was better for people to file jointly if they're married - why would it be worse to file jointly?
Dorsay - I think it depends on your income and what other things you have.
For us, we tried it both ways on Turbo Tax before we decided. In the end we're better off filing seperately.
Quick question- is it legal to file separately if you're married? I thought it was required if you got married in the past year.
I've heard both sides of this coin. Sometimes its great, but I've also heard that you can get hit with "marriage penalties" too. We'll have to look into this next year before filing!
@MsAnnaLytical - Yes it is legal to file separately even when you're married. I used Turbo Tax and it had that option :)
You can also check the IRS site here: http://www.irs.gov/publications/p501/ar02.html#en_US_publink100041771
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It can be a big advantage to file jointly if one of you makes a lot less money than the other. If you actually make about the same, there is less advantage.
Also, be careful about changing your withholding. You really only want to do that if one of you does make way less than the other. If you do make about the same, than reducing your withholding will ensure that you owe a lot. My sister made that mistake, and went from getting $3000 back the year before she got married to owing over $5000 the first year she was married. What a nice surprise.
You can file as "married filing seperate" or "married filing joint" the chief advantages to filing seperately other than what has already been mentioned is that you don't sign each other's tax returns when you file seperately. If you have business income or complicated returns, you are at a much higher risk to being audited and if something is done wrong on the taxes, only the person signing it is responsible whereas you can both be held liable if you file joint. Also, be extremely careful with changing withholdings, if you adjust too much, not only will you owe at the end of the year. If you end up owing more than $1000 or you paid less than 90% of the tax owed for the current year or you didn't at least pay the equivalent to the amount you owed last year on the taxes, then you can be hit with a very hefty underpayment penalty as the IRS views taxes as pay-as-you-go NOT yearly payments.
We kept hearing about "marriage penalties," etc. so we were nervous to file, but wanted to file jointly.
Luckily- we are going to get a huge amount back! The woman at H&R block explained that some people notice they are getting back less when they file jointly, because they aren't used to their new husband or wives taxes. For example, maybe you never get anything, but your husband has always gotten a lot back. He'll notice a big difference.
I would say ask YOUR accountant. He or she should be able to tell you what is best for you & hubby's financial status.
I can't wait for the first return after having a kid! Hahaha.
I got a nice surprise when we filed joint too! Marriage sure does have a lot of perks so far! :o)
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My new hubbie and I just filed our taxes, and we were going to file seperately, his business had a rough year and we're still maintaining seperate households. (i know not ideal, but I haven't been able to find a job where we want to settle down yet)
I knew I was going to get a nice refund and I have very easy taxes- his are super complicated. to keep things easy we were just going to file seperately. At the last moment we decided well lets just see what happens when we file together. GOOD NIGHT! we got a super duper pleasant surprise.
Just wanted to share. We were so timid to file jointly (why, i don't know). But I'm so glad we did.