My husband and I got married in July. He has not changed his W-4 to married (still says single) because he owes back childsupport, he doesn't want it to effect me financially, and he doesn't want more withheld from his paycheck. Can he still file a married filing seperately federal tax return altough his W-4 says single or does his W-4 have to be changed to married in order to file a married filing seperately tax return? We are trying to figure out if it is best for him to change his W-4 form.
2007-12-11 02:26:07 · 4 answers · asked by akaroky 1 in Business & Finance ➔ Taxes ➔ United States
No problem if his W-4 still says single, they'll just take a little more out of his pay. You both still have to file as married when you do your tax returns for 2007. You'd almost surely do better financially if you file a joint return though. You can file an injured spouse form and they won't take the part of the refund that's due to your income and withholding. Since he owes back child support, his part of the refund is gone anyway. Unless you live in a community property state, if you filed that form your refund would be OK, they'd just take his part of it.
Depending on your two incomes, a joint return might only make a couple dollars difference or might save you quite a bit. If it's only a couple dollars, filing separately makes sense, but if it's a lot you might want to reconsider.
If he leaves his W-4 as single, they'll take a little more out each paycheck (not a lot) but that way he'll get his back child support paid off faster even though he won't get it refunded to him when he files.
2007-12-11 02:43:26 · answer #1 · answered by Judy 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
You can still file married filing jointly... You will need to file form 8379, which is an "injured spouse allocation" form. After you complete your return, you fill in this form and state which parts of the return are yours & which parts are your spouses. If you are in a community property state, that will also be taken into consideration....The IRS states that all withholdings in a community property state were paid by both spouses equally, even though in actuallity one may have paid more withholding than the other. This basically will protect half of the refund (or your spouses portion) from being used to pay your arrearage. When you do this, you have to write "INJURED SPOUSE" on the top right corner of the first page of your 1040. Doing it this way will always come out with more of refund that filing married but separate. Hope this helps! Good Luck!
2016-05-23 01:23:24 · answer #2 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There is no legal requirement to have your W-4 and Tax filing status match. The W-4 is used to determine the amount of withholding taken from your paycheck.
Rather than file MFS, file MFJ and include an injured spouse form. I forget its number right now, but someone on Answers will, no doubt, quote it. That whay his back child support will not affect your portion of the refund. MFS is something that 95 times out of 100 results in a less advantageous tax outcome.
2007-12-11 02:35:22 · answer #3 · answered by nealeinmi 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
No. The W-4 only affects withholding.
2007-12-11 02:38:40 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋