Married and looking to file separately. What is the downside?

Get the dogs prescribed as a companion for stress...( medical deduction ) ...My wife and I do the same filing as u mentioned....all depends on the numbers u run...and make the best choice..

 

Do you do your own returns? If so, I suggest investing in Turbotax software, about $35 I think. As mentioned above run it both ways and see the difference. You'll definitely pay more taxes filing separately, but if your wife's reduction in tuition is more than the difference, it might be worth it.

 

Ask a qualified professional about this issue. How can any kind of software possibly answer that hypothetical question. It all depends.
I'm an O/O and my wife is a teacher. My accountant called me as I instructed him that we would file separately on this particular year.
He told me that if we filed joint, my wife would pay LESS income taxes at that time. In fact as it turned out she actually got a refund.
So I'll give you one guess as to what we did
There is no such thing as a cookie cutter answer.'
IT DEPENDS>>>>>>
Turbo tax is OK for SOME applications but personally I don't put any faith into any of that. Our situation is much too complex.
I trust my guy to do the right thing for me and the missus.

Good luck.

 

It's not a hypothetical question. You enter the "factual" information and it does the calculations. Your response is also contradicting in itself. You said you filed jointly but your wife got a refund. But, you're absolutely right about one thing...Turbotax isn't for everyone.

 

It's not very often filing separately will help you, unless their is a large difference in income and large deductions to itemize on Schedule A. I can only think of one time when it benefited a client in my 5 years of doing taxes of mostly high income earners.

but like was said, it can't hurt to run it both ways in Turbo Tax and see how it looks.

 

turbo tax? isn't that the same sofware the former secretary of the treasury tim geithner used when he evaded paying due taxes. he blamed turbo tax.

 

Don't be cheap just go to HR Block or some professional if your an O/O its worth the money to seek out a trucking tax firm. Have them run it both ways. Usually they will only charge you for the finished return. Plus they will give you specific advice on what to claim or not based on factual information you may not know or mistaken about what you think you know.You don't I repeat do not want the IRS on your ### later. Nor do you want to miss anything that reduces your taxes or refund. Its will worth the money you save by doing it yourself at times.

 

Do it yourself, Tubo Tax is just fine if you're just going to do the standard dedication, fill in the income, sign it and send it off.

 

Dogs? Are like claiming a home office. It can set off a red flag. True some do it for years and never have a problem with it. Claiming a dog falls under very specific rules. Guard dogs have separate deductions than seeing eye dogs or other physical impairment service dogs. For example guard dogs you can't write off the purchase price of the dog. Seeing eye dogs you can. Guard dogs can only be claimed for the amount of time they actually do the work guarding. Plus they can be depreciated over time according to a local breeder. Eye dogs can't. All dogs can be used as a write off for the expense of moving them from one location to the other if you happen to move, right down to the price of airline ticket. Getting the drift why it will set off a red flag??There are no exemptions or special considerations for dogs in the trucking industry. The question is? Is it worth it to mess with when you consider how little you can claim on a dog and the hassle of keeping all the paper work for years just in case of an audit.