I was thinking about getting married to my girlfriend if it allowed us to pay less taxes. We're totally in love and sure about our relationship, and we're actually having our firstborn in a few months, so don't think that we'd be getting married for the sole purpose of taxes and start bashing me.
We weren't planning on getting married, we were going to just change her last name to mine. Not getting married is due to personal reasons (our relationship is above religion and government which is all marriage is about)
So if we both filed as being unmarried will we pay less taxes then if we file married either joint or seperate?
Also if we both file single, can we both claim our son?
(Yes I'm asking for next year, I know I have to file single this year, and no 'common law' marriage doesn't exist so don't mention that please)
Thanks everybody, happy answering!!
2007-02-05 16:47:36 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Business & Finance ➔ Taxes ➔ United States
Getting married to save on taxes. Wow. You have bigger issues than saving a few hundred bucks
2007-02-05 16:57:22 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
No marriage penalty? You must not make much.
A lot of two-income couples end up in the AGI bracket where the tax liability is greater than if you are single.
In addition, FICA doesn't take into account the second income, so there are other ways outside of the tax code that singles benefit. Now, granted the gap is much narrower, but the penalty still exists.
Re your son: in your situation only one of the parents can claim the child as a dependent on their return for 2007. And that would go to the one who provides more than 50% of the child's living expenses. That is, if you don't get married this year.
I agree: you doth protests too much. If you're not getting married not due to taxes but by some higher authority (beyond my feeble comprehension), it must be because...
2007-02-06 03:05:39 · answer #2 · answered by CMass Stan 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You can only claim a dependent on 1 tax return. This is one thing that the IRS catches really fast. The SSN number of your child will be entered in their system and when the SSN has been claimed twice, they will sent a letter for one of you to Amended your return.
There isn't any marriage penalty. In fact the tax rate is less if filing Married filing Jointly instead of Single.
Hope this helps
Congratulations on your family!
2007-02-05 16:58:04 · answer #3 · answered by azchtou 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
If you're married, you have the choice of filing single/married or joint married. Only one of you can claim your son. I don't believe in marriage myself, it's just a little piece of paper.
2007-02-05 16:52:16 · answer #4 · answered by workwanted 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You will save more taxes by getting married. You're limits for certain credits and deductions are much higher! And only one of you can claim exemption and EIC for the child, so one of you will get screwed big time.
2007-02-05 18:11:02 · answer #5 · answered by Honesty given here! 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋