Frequently Asked Questions

If at the end of the tax year you live together in a common law marriage that is recognized by the law of the state where the marriage began or in which you live, you may file as married-filing jointly or married-filing separately.

The American Opportunity or Lifetime Learning credits are not available for married filing separate returns.
For MFS you must have lived apart from your spouse for the last 6 months of the year to take advantage of the dependent care, earned income, elderly credits and the $25,000 rental loss allowance.
Also Social Security will be 85% taxable.

If a joint return was originally filed, you may not change to married-filing separate returns once the due date of the returns has passed.
If married-filing separate returns were originally filed, you have three years from the due date (without extensions) to switch to filing a joint return.

You are not eligible to choose head of household filing status if the qualifying person is your dependent because a multiple support agreement Form 2120 was filed.

When both spouses are income earners, the tax they pay when they file a joint return is usually greater than the tax they would pay separately if they were still single. This is referred to as the marriage penalty. When you are married you cannot choose to file as single. You must file either jointly with your spouse, or file "married, filing separately". Filing separately from your spouse is usually even more costly.

Some spouses have had problems with the IRS in the past and still owe the IRS taxes.
When you file a joint return, you and your spouse are both equally responsible for the taxes owed on that return.
Any refund you might have been entitled to could be used to pay your spouse's existing liability with the IRS or the state. Lastly, some people do not want their spouse to be aware of all of their financial involvement.