Please tax preparer!Do you think I should do my taxes jointly? We are living apart but we still married…? | 60 Second Tax Refund

If you are getting divorced, then it may be safe to file separately. Read this question posted by mommyranyne about 4 weeks back.

“Does anyone know if there is anything you can do…?
A few years ago i allowed my ex-husband (we were only separated at the time) to claim me on his taxes. He did and got approximately $ 7000 back. Two years later, we found out that some income wasn’t reported and he filed for spousal relief. So… now I owe the IRS about $ 6000 and he gets off scot free. He made $ 95000 that year – I made $ 11,500. Is there anything I can do now???”

So if you file jointly make sure to go through the return before signing it.

Ok here’s the deal, when your husband told you to claim married 0 he is correct, what he is doing is increasing the amount of tax’s to be taken out of your paycheck, so when you file you will not have to pay in. Married 0 is like single anyway.
Secondly since he is prolly going to itemize that means you will HAVE to itemize of which you will have nothing to itemize unless you have alot of health care bills you can claim, filing married but separate is the worst way to file. If you husband wants you to file together it is prolly to help him SOME not alot like you suspect but I would ask the tax preparer to tell you what your tax return would be if you were to file SINGLE and you get that much from “YOURS AND YOUR HUSBANDS CHECK” because it will have both your names on it. Its really simple dont freak out

You are allowed to file either a joint return, or both of you file as married filing separately. If you don’t live together anytime after June 30, and one or both of you has a dependent child living with you, then that person could file as head of household instead of married filing separately if they provide more than half of the cost of maintaining a home for the child. Since you are living with your parents, you most likely wouldn’t be eligible for that even if you have a child with you..

If you change your W-4 to zero allowances, they’ll take more out of your paycheck for taxes. If you file a joint return, that would go toward your joint taxes, so somebody would end up paying less tax – somehow I suspect that somebody wouldn’t be you. If you do end up filing a joint return, be sure you get your share of any refund.

You are unlikely to get more back if you file as married filing separately than if you file a joint return. Depending on whether or not one of you itemizes deductions, it might turn out to be less, or might be about the same. You can’t file as single, and if he itemizes, you have to also.

It sounds like your husband is taking advantage of your personal exemption and filing married status. Of course he pays less in taxes if he can file that way.

If you are seperated, I would say to file married but filing seperately. This will hurt him when he files and may affect you some but you will get the better benefit in the end.

When you prepare your taxes, your preparer should also be able to guide you through this process.

Good luck!

My advice is to tell him you will file together with him, but since you make 1/3 of the money and he makes 2/3 of the money, you will pay 1/3 of the tax and he will pay 2/3 of the tax.

In the meantime, don’t change your withholding and set yourself up to pay more than your share.

If he does not agree, but he thinks you are again going to pay 1/2 of the tax on a joint return, then you might as well file separately, taking a standard deduction of $ 5,350 (file early before him).

You are probably past the tax estimation stage, but if you are not, here is one:
http://www.expenseregister.com/Home/calculators/taxCalculator/taxCalculator.php

This depends if you live in a community property state.

Relief from Spousal Liability

Community Property States
Community property states treat marital income differently than other states (which are sometimes called common law states). As a result, the tax law has special rules for community income. The IRS Restructuring and Revision Act of 1998 revised the treatment of spousal liability, and includes rules for community property states.

Overview
Special rules apply to spousal property and income in the community property states:

Arizona
California
Idaho
Louisiana
Nevada
New Mexico
Texas
Washington
Wisconsin
You can learn more about tax reporting in community property states by obtaining IRS Publication 555.

Some or all income earned by one spouse may be community income in these states. As a general rule, that means the tax rules will treat this income as if each spouse earned half of it. If you and your spouse file separate returns, each of you has to report half of the community income. In addition, you would report half of the income produced by any property that’s treated as community property (for example, savings bonds that are purchased with community income). You would also report the entire amount of any income you have that’s treated as your separate income under the laws of your state.
If you live in a community property state you’ll be subject to somewhat different rules for spousal liability (and relief from spousal liability).

Joint Tax Returns
If you file jointly with your spouse, you’ll generally obtain relief from spousal liability under the same rules that apply to taxpayers in common law states (states that do not have community property laws). The new law provides:

“Any determination under this section shall be made without regard to community property laws.”

This means that any item that would otherwise be attributable to your spouse won’t be split between you because it happens to relate to community income. However, as we understand this provision, it doesn’t prevent you from being taxable on your half of the income produced by community property.

Example: Your spouse fails to report some of the income from your spouse’s business. In addition, your return doesn’t include the income from mutual fund shares your spouse bought with community income. Under the rules providing relief from spousal liability, you don’t have to treat half of the business income as your own. But half of the income from the mutual fund is yours, because the income was produced by property you own jointly with your spouse.

Apart from splitting income that’s produced by property you own jointly with your spouse by virtue of the community property laws, you should apply the rules described in other pages of this guide to relief from spousal liability as if you lived in a common law state, not a community property state.

Liability on Separate Returns
Normally you aren’t liable for tax relating to your spouse’s income if you file separate returns (assuming there’s no fraudulent transfer of assets from your spouse to you). But if you live in a community property state, you’re required to report half of the community income earned by your spouse on your return. If the IRS determines that the community income earned by your spouse was greater than you thought it was, you can be liable for tax on your share of that income even though you filed a separate return.
The tax law provides relief from liability for tax on community income on separate returns under rules similar to the Innocent Spouse Rule. The tax law also provides that the IRS can impose tax solely on one spouse if that spouse treats community income as his or her own and fails to notify the other spouse of the amount and nature of the income before the due date of the return for that year. The 1998 tax law added a new provision under which the IRS can grant relief where it would be inequitable to collect the tax even though the taxpayer doesn’t qualify for relief under the general rule.
We don’t expect the IRS to use this rule in every instance where the taxpayer feels that the law is unfair. Yet there are likely to be situations where the facts are particularly appealing and the IRS actually wants to provide relief. Before the 1998 tax law, the IRS had little choice but to enforce the law as it was written. Now the IRS can exercise discretion in appropriate cases.

If you both live in a common law state then I would suggest Married Filing Separately. I do not see any mention of children.

If you file Married Filing Separately he is able to file for Schedule A Deductions and you are not able to file for Schedule A Deductions.

Since you both are no longer living together a divorce is imminent in the future, you could take your refund and file for divorce.

As long as you are both married there are only two options for you, Married Filing Separately or Married Filing Jointly.

Take the time to speak to a tax professional in your area.

I would not suggest Married Filing Jointly.