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Stuck at work today so maybe one of you smart guys's knows the answer to this....

I'm single right now with one dependant.

Planning to get married on Oct 24 this year.

Federal Tax Return question....

Q. Will it be more beneficial to us to file our tax return jointly at the end of the year or will we be better off filing seperate? Will she get the full tax break of being married for the whole year? Will my dependant effect what she's getting back. Will it be more beneficial somehow to get legally hitched earlier?

Normally its better to file jointly with a few exceptions that I cant remember. As long as your married before the end of the year then you can file for being married the whole year IIRC.

Ask your Tax Accountant.

IIRC, if you get married at any time in a given year, you count as being married all year. They look at your status on Dec. 31, if that makes sense. And yeah, usually it's better to file jointly, but it's worth figuring it out both ways. I think Turbotax lets you do that fairly easily.

FYI, a good source for a lot of personal finance info is www.bankrate.com.

Even the pros simply run the returns both ways, and see what is better.

IIRC exemptions are always for a full year, regardless of when the marriage or birth ways, but I can check that later.

Depending on your financial situation, you should either just go to a tax preparer or see if you can find a free one for lower income households. Keep in mind that lower income can mean as high as several times the poverty line.

You do count as being married for the entire year.

In terms of filling jointly vs separately, that really depends on your exact situation. I'd suggest doing your taxes both ways to see what works better for you (I assume your taxes aren't too complicated, or else you'd have a professional to ask).

It's almost always better to file jointly. But, if one of you has a SIGNIFICANTLY different income than the other one, it can be better to file separately.

Deadshane1 wrote:Stuck at work today so maybe one of you smart guys's knows the answer to this....

I'm single right now with one dependant.

Planning to get married on Oct 24 this year.

Federal Tax Return question....

Q. Will it be more beneficial to us to file our tax return jointly at the end of the year or will we be better off filing seperate? Will she get the full tax break of being married for the whole year? Will my dependant effect what she's getting back. Will it be more beneficial somehow to get legally hitched earlier?

Dang, postpone married until Jan? File HoH and her single will always be better than MFJ. MFS rarely benefits both parties - in pending divorce always try to persuade divorcing couple (where divorce isn't finalized) to be civil and file MFJ even if they hate each other.

Also, if you did your own taxes last yr via a tax program run both scenerios through it. Won't take long. if you need a hand drop me an email - I do taxes for about 4 or 5 people to save them money on tax fees.

I always prep it both ways, and then usually married filing jointly works out better, so that's what I submit.

edit, i also riddle my posts with typos, then fix them with the edit button.