should i file married jointly or seperate?

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Almost always joint....Show more

If you file jointly you have a combined income of $111,900. You get standard deduction of $12,200 and two personal exemptions at $3900 each, leaving you with 91,900 taxable and resulting in a total tax liability of $14,833

If you file separately, you both get $6100 std deduction and one exemption of $3900 reducing each income by exactly $10,000 resulting in 63,800 and 28,100 taxable amounts. At MFS rates that amounts to tax liabilities of $11,879 and $3769 respectively. This means a total tax liability of $15,648

So there you go.
File Jointly & Uncle Sam takes a total of 14,833
File Separately & Uncle Sam will take $15,648
Difference of $815...Show more

Jointly...Show more

Any tax program will instantly run the numbers both ways and let you know which way gives you a bigger refund. That being said married filing jointly almost always is better....Show more

It depends where you live. If you live in a community property state such as Texas or California, when you file separately, you have to combine your income, then you each report half. There is no good reason to do that. If you live in a non community property state, that is not a factor; you each report your own income. However, when you file MFS, you cannot claim many of the tax credits that are available. Unless you want to keep your refund separate from your spouse, there is generally no reason to file separately. I would file joint....Show more