A friend of mine is just got married 2 days ago,but she doesn't want her husband finacial/tax info on her tax forms.
- Is it ok/legal for her to put "single" on the w-4/1040 forms instead of "married"
- Is it better for her to put "married" or "single"
- married filling seperatley or filling joint. Which is better?
2006-10-05 15:16:44 · 5 answers · asked by sweety 3 in Business & Finance ➔ Taxes ➔ United States
She must file as married if she is still married by 12/31 of this year. Either file married/jointly, or married filing separately. Married/jointly will in most instances result in a lower tax bill. However, if the reason she doesn't want to file as married is because she doesn't trust new hubby to tell the truth on the tax return (a marriage doomed to failure), she MUST for safety's sake, file married/separately. If she signs her name to a joint return, she is equally liable for tax fraud as her husband, even if she has no knowledge that the return is fraudulent.
2006-10-05 17:23:24 · answer #1 · answered by domers13 2 · 3⤊ 0⤋
She must indicate that she is married on her 1040 and her W-4. She and her husband will get more tax benefit if they file jointly, but they can both indicate married, filing separately if they prefer.
2006-10-06 04:27:30 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
She can keep "single" on her w4 but she must file her return as Married-Jointly or Married-Separately. If the marriage was annulled or she got divorced by 12/31, she could again file her return as Single. Married-Jointly is almost always better.
In my opinion, a marriage starting without all of the financial data of each person on the table is doomed. Just my opinion......
2006-10-05 16:06:32 · answer #3 · answered by Wayne Z 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
If she files as single, it's fraud.
If she files as married filing separately, 90% of the time she will pay more taxes than her husband - however, if there is a HUGE disparity in their incomes, it may be ok.
My question is, why would she marry someone that she can't even trust to know what she makes? That's the real "question".
2006-10-05 15:23:14 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
domers 13 is right. In addition, however, if she is worried about her husband's past tax liabilities, she can file as an 'injured spouse'.
see the instructions following form 8379 here http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8379.pdf
2006-10-06 03:41:21 · answer #5 · answered by curious george 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋