My husband and I were married in January I was wondering how this effects our taxes at the end of the year? Will it be beneficial? Or hurt us? We are both claiming zero right now on our w-4s so the most money possible is taken out. The other thing is I make a lot more money than he does, we're talking like double the money, can I claim head of household, or does that only apply to children? Any suggestions? Please also no smart remarks I'm tired of people being jerks.
2006-09-01 07:18:04 · 10 answers · asked by YubaMama 2 in Business & Finance ➔ Personal Finance
It usually works against you, because...
(And these are made up numbers)
If he earned, say 25,000, he would pay 20% in taxes, or 5,000
If you earned 50,000, you would pay 22% in taxes (higher bracket) or 11,000
So together you paid 16,000
BUT, when you get married, they add the 25,000 to the 50,000 and you have earned 75,000. So you pay 25% for being in a higher tax bracket, or 18,750
That's 2,750 more than you paid separately.
It is referred to as the "marriage penalty"
"Head of Household" is a status used for a SINGLE person who supports one or more dependents. They get a deductions for that.
(Single parents get a deduction. Married people pay more. Go figure.)
2006-09-01 07:32:31 · answer #1 · answered by dewcoons 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You are probably better claiming married-filing-joint. There is nothing wrong with trying it as HOH also to see which is better. The issue when two people get married is this example: when you file "single" and your taxable income is 30,000 you are taxed at 15% BUT when you marry and your taxable income is 60,000 (twice the single amount) your tax rate is say 28%. You were better off tax-wise being single. Married filing separate usually doesn't help either. You can try it all three ways though just to check. Use turbo tax.
This is only an example, I did not check to see if my numbers were correct but hopefully you get the idea.
2006-09-01 07:29:15 · answer #2 · answered by porkchop 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
you can
a. file joint returns OR
b. file separate but married.
Head of house applies if there are minor children that have income.
As far as how much you pay, because of the number of people in the household your table rate is based on the number of people AND the household income.
I generally will take my return and run it through Turbotax both ways to see which would be the best thing for our situation.
2006-09-01 07:25:58 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
You are required to file based upon your marital status at the end of the previous calendar year. When I got divorced, it was finalized it November, and I had to file my taxes as single. The problem was that I had been contributing at the married rate and had to pay a bucketload of money.
You should actually pay less since you are now married. If you are both contributing at the single rate, you will get back a bunch of money. I don't think you can file head of household.
2006-09-01 07:27:45 · answer #4 · answered by Biskit 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm not sure about the head of household. My mom claims head of household but I think its just becasue she works and my Dad is on disability.Its jsut the 2 of them) More thatn likely you guys are going to get hurt by taxes if you both make good money. Its another way for the government to get our hard earned $$.
2006-09-01 07:26:51 · answer #5 · answered by Kelly 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I can only share our experience. I'm not a tax expert by any means.
The year that we got married, we paid more taxes. In fact, we didn't even realize it would be an issue until we filed our taxes and realized that we had underpaid (substantially underpaid!).
No, you can't claim head of household. I can't recall the rationale, but your situation is similar to ours (i.e. one earner with 2X the other earner, married) and you can't claim that.
Let me know if you have any more questions or need clarification!
2006-09-01 07:22:45 · answer #6 · answered by The ~Muffin~ Man 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
nicely, married couples do get advantages that single human beings do not (it is why this comes up in discussions approximately gay marriage). i'm uncertain if it rather is a tax wreck (through fact i don't fall into the married couples classification), yet there are genuinely criminal advantages to being married.
2016-11-23 17:49:53 · answer #7 · answered by marnell 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Normally married filing jointly is the most advantageous. Try other ways (married filing separately for example) and see which is best for you.
2006-09-01 07:24:42 · answer #8 · answered by RayRay 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You will have to pay more taxes because you'll be in a higher income bracket.
2006-09-01 07:23:17 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
it should help you on taxes... if you use something like tubo tax it will tell you the best way to file.. or your tax person will also tell you.
2006-09-01 07:24:35 · answer #10 · answered by eldridgejoe 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋