Wondering what to expect in terms of a tax return?

Question

I just got married in Sept. My wife and I make about 70k combined. We're currently renting and both of us only claimed ourselves on our respective W-4. New to the whole married filing jointly so I'm just wondering what to expect in terms of a resund and if we even can file this way since we were married so late in the year. Would appreciate any valid response/comparison.

Answer 1

1. Even if you get married on Dec 31, your status for the whole year is married. You can only file as Married Filing Jointly or Married Filing Separately.

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.

3. This is from IRS publication 17: Your Federal Income Tax.
Tip. If you and your spouse each have income, you may want to figure your tax both on a joint return and on separate returns (using the filing status of married filing separately). Choose the method that gives the two of you the lower combined tax.

Answer 2

You should expect your tax return to look like a piece of paper.

Now, as to what you're probably asking about: A refund.

Your options are Married Filing Jointly and Married Filing Separately. MFJ will usually result in the lowest tax liability except in some extremely unusual situations. Your marital status on the last day of the year determines your filing status for the entire year so you will file as Married even if you get married on Dec 31.

Assuming that you both claimed Single and 1 on your Forms W-4 all year you should be looking at a small refund when you file as long as your incomes were about equal. If one of you had significantly more income than the other you could be looking at a modest bill at filing time.

It would be a good idea for you and your wife to sit down with a W-4 and fill out the worksheets on page 2. This will help you account for the dual incomes and any deductions that you may be eligible for. The number of allowances you come up with represents the total that you should claim. If your incomes are similar you can split them evenly but if one of you makes significantly more than the other, that person should claim all of them and the other should claim zero.

Answer 3

Yes you can file a joint return, even if you got married on December 31.

You'll probably get a few hundred dollars back, but being married won't make a big difference in your taxes.

Answer 4

any refund means you had too much stolen from your check.

Of course all this will be moot when the FairTax Act H.R. 25 passes and replaces all income taxes with a single sales tax on new items. The FairTax now has the support of hundreds of thousands, 72 congressional sponsors / co-sponsors, and 7 presidential candidates. See www.fairtax.org
Fundamentals and facts http://www.fairtax.org/PDF/FairTax-Funda...
Frequently Asked Questions about the FairTax http://www.fairtax.org/fairtax/faqs.htm