When Is It Best to File Separately When Married on Taxes?
As a married person, you have three options for choosing a filing status. You can select married filing jointly, head of household (in some cases) or married filing separately. Choosing the last option of filing separately comes with a number of disadvantages, but it's a viable choice in certain situations.
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Spouse Owes
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If one spouse owes a significant amount money on his taxes while the other partner could potentially receive a refund, this is one case where filing separately may make sense. Instead of having the refund completely absorbed by the amount the spouse owes, each person deals with his own separate tax obligation. The first spouse pays his tax bill while the other receives a check for the refund amount.
Separation
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One of the most common reasons for choosing married filing separately status is if the married couple separated from each other during the tax year. Since the two parties do not operate as a unit with joint financial situations, they may choose to file taxes separately as well. A married person may also just simply prefer to oversee her own financial affairs independently instead of operating as one entity with the spouse for personal reasons.
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Downsides
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When you select married filing separately as your filing status, you may run into a few obstacles. For one, you cannot itemize your deductions (listed on Schedule A) unless your spouse itemizes too. You also have limitations on some of the deductions and credits you can take when you file separately. For instance, you cannot take certain education credits (Hope and Lifetime Learning) or the earned income credit. Deduction limits are halved compared to filing jointly with the spouse, as in the case of the standard deduction.
Suggestions
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Before you choose your filing status, consult a tax adviser or accountant. You may not see the entire tax situation and how making that one selection on your form can affect you overall. Use tax software instead of preparing the forms by hand so that you can see the result of both scenarios---filing jointly or separately. Also, when choosing a tax filing status you can use the IRS's online filling status tool to make your decision.
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Comments
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what do u do if your spouse claims u on taxes when u didn't know he was doing the taxes and then dissapears on you? Isn't there a law or 2 being broken somehow and how can I fix the situation?
