He is marrying someone who makes about $35,000 and she will be claiming 3 children on her taxes. They are debating whether they can get married this year or should they wait until 2007 for tax reasons. Will it make any difference on taxes? He thinks getting married this year will hurt her tax return. Does she need to remain single for the rest of this year for the best tax benifit?
2006-12-11 16:44:39 · 3 answers · asked by when and how 4 in Business & Finance ➔ Taxes ➔ United States
To my understanding, on your tax return, it asks marital status as of december 31. So six months does not sound right to me
2006-12-11 16:48:34 · update #1
If taxes are going to make a difference in these people's lives, I really must wonder about their priorities.
But if taxes are the deciding factor, then it would benefit them to wait until 2007 because the woman's taxable income would be greatly reduced by the deductions for the children. While their combined 80k income would probably put them into a combined higher tax bracket.
FYI - if they got married Dec 31st they would be married for the entire tax year - the person speaking about living together for 6 months is incorrect. If you are married, but separated and did not live together for any part of the last 6 months of the year you are eligible to file as single (aka "Single For Tax Purposes").
2006-12-12 02:06:53 · answer #1 · answered by nova_queen_28 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Absolutely wait! If she has three children to claim, at that income level she can file as head of household and receive her standard deduction of 7,300 plus she can file for the child tax credit with two of the children. The third child will be the qualifier for the additional child tax credit. At that income level she should also qualify for the earned income credit. If they are married before 11:59 on Dec. 31, she looses all that extra credit because one, she will have to file as married, even if they file seperately. And two, she cannot file as head of household. And three, their combined income will disqualify her/them for the earned income credit.
2006-12-11 17:29:27 · answer #2 · answered by Mike H 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No because they have to have been living in the same house for six months to file together. They will have to file married filing separate becuase they've not been together the entire year. It is six months. I've done it before. They were her dependants not his and the income he's received all year didn't benefit her and her children.
2006-12-11 16:47:09 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 3⤋