when is it best to file taxes as single claimant when your married?

Answer 1

My understanding is that if you're married, you either file married-jointly or married-separately. Filing "single" is not supposed to be an option...even though some people try to get away with it anyhow. (The exception being spouses who lived in separate households for 6 months of the year.)


Edit to add: BTW- you'd be amazed at the number of people who try to get away with filing taxes as single when they are married. I do dependent audits for medical benefits, and without fail every employer group has dozens of employees who can't provide tax documentation showing married filing status (even though they are married). They get ticked off when they find out that their spouses will lose health benefits because they don't file taxes as married and therefore have insufficient documentation to prove marital status for a dependent audit. I guess that's something to keep in mind if you're going to try to get away with it...even if the IRS doesn't catch you, there could be other repercussions.

Answer 2

It even takes more than living apart for the last 6 months of the year. If you have a dependent child living with you, and provide over half the cost of maintaining the household, and live apart for all of the second half of the year, THEN you may file as head of household, NOT single. The other parent would have to file as married filing separately.

There are some circumstances when filing as married filing separately might allow you to pay less taxes overall than filing jointly. This can happen when one of a couple has high amounts of one of the deductions that depends on AGI, like medical expenses or unreimbursed medical expenses - then it MIGHT work out better financially to file separately.

It is also best to file separately if you are concerned about your spouse's information and don't want to be responsible for it.

Answer 3

1. If you are married, your filing Status can only be Married Filing Jointly or Married Filing Separately unless you did not live with your spouse for last 6 months and meet certain conditions.

2. If you have income and your spouse does not have income or has a very little income, then it is better to file as Married Filing Jointly. If both of you have almost equal income, then it won't make much difference. Also may credits and deductions are not available if you file Married Filing Separately. So normally you should file as Married Filing Jointly, unless there is a compelling reason to file otherwise.

Answer 4

No filing single, only Married Filing Separate. Seldom beneficial, but if you can't locate your spouse or don't trust his financial dealings then maybe you don't want to file with him/her so that you are not responsible. On rare occasions it might be advantageous, ask your tax preparer to check both ways for you and see what works in your favor.

Answer 5

You can not file as single if you are married. If you live with your spouse you must file as married filing jointly or married filing separately. The latter is generally a bad deal.