[Peachbelle]

Originally Posted by Misky1951

New wife (married in 2024) and I will be going to Villages Tax Aide for our tax preparation. From my research, it appears filing jointly is the best method. Since this is both our first time filing jointly, should we do both a joint return and individual returns to see what method gives us the lowest tax liability? Is so, will they do both for us ?

Higher deduction for married. Unless one of you can itemize do married.

[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by Villagesgal

We always file married filing separately with both paying less this way. Taxaide will do it both ways for you to see which works out best, but they don't like to, you have to insist. Every year they tell us it's best to file married filing jointly, we tell them in our case no it isn't, they then do it married filing separately and always seem to be surprised that we are right.
So yes if you insist, they will do both ways and let you know.

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

I wouldn't use a tax service that didn't determine the best way to file, even if they are free. That's their job.

I wonder what percentage of married filers benefit from filing jointly. Apparently some do, but looking at the rules they would seem to be the exceptions. That being the case, what position should the paid preparer take?

1. The customer is always right even if they are wasting my time
2. If the customer had enough experience to make the call then they wouldn't need to pay me to fill out their taxes
3. I charge by the hour or by the return so it's no loss for me if the customer wants to pay me for twice the time or three times the number of returns

Obviously, a tax preparer won't know your special case the first time they meet you. It shouldn't be difficult to explain why you think filing separate will be more beneficial. At that point if the preparer disagrees or still refuses then it makes sense to find someone who will work with you. But, it shouldn't come as a surprise that the professional might question whether can't/won't fill out their own taxes really knows more about the tax code than he does.

[Singerlady]

Been there and did that. Your accountant will probably say file jointly. Try it. Easy.

[PersonOfInterest]

Originally Posted by Villagesgal

We always file married filing separately with both paying less this way. Taxaide will do it both ways for you to see which works out best, but they don't like to, you have to insist. Every year they tell us it's best to file married filing jointly, we tell them in our case no it isn't, they then do it married filing separately and always seem to be surprised that we are right.
So yes if you insist, they will do both ways and let you know.

Married filing separately and living together will not produce less overall tax unless there is an unusual situation or the return is done incorrectly. You'd have to both be itemizing deductions or both be standard deduction. That alone makes it difficult to have a scenario where the total tax paid is less. What unusual situation do you have that would tip the scales? Or who are you getting to incorrectly file your returns?

[CoachKandSportsguy]

Originally Posted by PersonOfInterest

Married filing separately and living together will not produce less overall tax unless there is an unusual situation or the return is done incorrectly. You'd have to both be itemizing deductions or both be standard deduction. That alone makes it difficult to have a scenario where the total tax paid is less. What unusual situation do you have that would tip the scales? Or who are you getting to incorrectly file your returns?

Although true that filing jointly pays less tax than two married filing separately combined tax payments, but there are reasons to file jointly.

The tax planning strategy of looking at future year implications of tax status now, would include future IRMMA penalties for one or both filing separately. . Remember that the biggest IRMMA penalty arises from filing jointly and then filing single with the loopback period.

So couples where future changes in tax status might want to consider filing separately to avoid IRMMA in future years. . .

remember, strategy is not about today, strategy is about the future events that may have adverse impacts if today is not done optimally.