my husband and i filed seperate taxes mine single his head of household are we in trouble i didntno til 2day?

Question

I'M TRYING TO FIND OUT IF I GOT SCREWED BY THE TAX COMPANY THAT I USED BECAUSE I'M TRYING TO APPLY FOR FINANCIAL AID AND THEY TOLD ME THAT I HAVE TO FILE AN AMENDED TAX RETURN THAT STATES I AM MARRIED FILLING SEPARETLY BECAUSE MY HUSBAND AND I FILED SEPERATELY BUT MY TAX PEOPLE FILED ME AS SINGLE AND MY HUSBAND AS HEAD OF HOUSEHOLD WHAT DID I DO WRONG AM I IN TROUBLE

Answer 1

You are not in trouble, you just have to fix your tax return. You do have to correct it to married filing separately though. However, how come you guys don't file jointly? you will save so much money on taxes if you file jointly. Think about it.

Answer 2

Did you tell the preparer that you were married? Did your spouse tell the preparer that he was not living with you for the last six months of the year, but the child(ren) were living with him?

Go back to that preparer and get amendments that correctly show your filing status. Whether that preparer messed up or not, this is the quickest way to fix your problem. If the preparer was in error and you make enough of a complaint, your amendments may be at no cost to you.

If your spouse filed as Head of Household, that meant he claimed a child, and probably got Earned Income Credit based on that child.

Your best bet is to file an amended return changing your filing status to Married Filing Jointly. If your joint income is under about $34,000 you will still get some EIC, but probably less than your husband received filing incorrectly as Head of Household. You will have a balance due.

For your tax return for 2008, file as early as you can and have that 2007 balance due paid for with your 2008 refund.

Your financial aid people were wrong to say you have to file as Married Filing Separately. If you were married on December 31, 2006, you have the option of filing as Married Filing Jointly.

The worst case is that your spouse refuses to file a joint return with you. You would both file as Married Filing Separately, and you both would have a balance due on the amendments that would surely be more than you owe if you filed jointly.

Answer 3

Where you living together?

If yes, then you've got two choices:

You amend your Single return into a Married, Filing Separate return and pay back any taxes owed. Your husband would *also* need to amend his HOH return into a Married, Filing Separate return--he can't file HOH if you lived with him at any time between 7/1 and 12/31 of each tax year.

Or, you can amend one of the returns into a Married Filing Joint return (the IRS will cancel out the other return). (The deadline for amending into a joint return for 2006 is 4/15/2010.)

If you were not living together, you could still amend your return into an MFS return.

This situation generally causes you to owe taxes back. If either one of your (or both of you) claimed Earned Income Credit, then you will have a major tax liability.

Answer 4

First off, PLEASE turn off the CAPS LOCK key!

If you live with your husband your only filing choices are Married Filing Separately and Married Filing Jointly. If you filed as Single you will need to file an amended return on Form 1040-X, either jointly with your husband OR as Married Filing Separately. In most cases you'll pay less tax with a joint return. If your husband filed as Head of Household, he'll need to file an amended return as well. As I said, you can file a joint return OR he can amend as Married Filing Separately.

If you go the separate return route, it probably won't cost you any money (unless you claimed the EIC, or other credits that are not allowed on separate returns) but your husband will likely owe a fair bit of back taxes plus penalties and interest.

If would probably be in your best interest to amend your filing status as Married Filing Jointly.

Needless to say, do NOT go back to the idiots who prepared your returns in the first place, though you may want to demand that they refund the fees that they charged you. Find someone who is properly qualified to help you out.

Answer 5

Uh, if you were married as of the end of the year, you both just filed illegally, and your tax people certainly should have known that. Someone who is married can't file as single OR as head of household. So you could both end up in trouble over it. Not going-to-jail trouble, but owing back taxes.

You both need to file amended returns. You can file separately if you want to, but as MARRIED FILING SEPARATELY. You would almost surely pay less tax overall if you just file one joint return.

Answer 6

You and your husband have filed fraudulent returns. Do not blame the tax company, who sign the tax returns. If you are married as of Dec 31st the only two choices you have are: Married filing jointly or Married Filing Separately.

Answer 7

If you innocently filed this way on the advice of your tax return preparer, besides filing amended returns to change to either married filing jointly or married filing separately, you should contact IRS because this is preparer fraud.

Answer 8

The IRS is not going to throw you in jail for filing wrong. What happens is it changes how much tax you owe. So if you owe them more than what you originally paid then can charge a penalty on what you owe. If it works out in your favor and they owe you more money then they will send you a check. You should amend your husband's too. You should be able to fix your problem so you can apply for Federal Aid.

Answer 9

Your husband is not entitled to file head of household if you and he are still married and lived more than 6 months together during that tax year.

You aren't in trouble, but he could be penalized for filing a fraudulent return.

Answer 10

Just amend your taxes and hope that the fine if there is one is minimal. You are the responsible party as you are the one who signed the tax form. Your tax people should help you out if they are the ones who truly made the mistake.