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Will getting married next year significantly reduce my tax refund?
My fiance and I are sort of planning on getting married next year. I have a 10 yo son from another relationship that lives with us >>>50% of the year and I am able to claim him as a dependent every other year (per the circuit court judge that decided this - even though they have no jurisdiction over federal tax law) but can file as HOH every year. Last year I received a very generous refund even without claiming my son as a dependent because I could do HOH.
So my question is... Will getting LEGALLY married even be worth it? From what I understand, I will not be able to file as HOH but will at least be able to claim my son as a dependent ***every other year. Neither one of us has any sort of health benefits that we could share if we did get married and I own almost all the propery that is in our home. Together we earn between $20-$25K (until one of us earns a degree) and he is currently eligible for federal aid to attend college.
My son lives with us much greater than 50% of the year. I have full physical custody.
I don't own a home, just all the stuff in it. We rent right now.
Thanks guys... I'm just trying to get an idea. His parents are CPAs and my father is an accountant so we will be able to have them run the numbers to see. I'm getting confused with the years I won't be able to claim my son as a dependent... But in reality, I should go back to court with his dad as a witness and prove that the judge can't make me let him claim our son because he isn't his dependent in the eyes of the IRS.
5 Answers
- troLv 79 years agoFavorite Answer
first of all, according to IRS the parent with whom the child spends the majority 'nites' with is the parent to claim the child's exemption
you mention 50% of the time, which means if neither can determine who has the majority, the parent with the higher income claims the child
you mention owning a home so you apparently do not use the standard deduction which is a consideration--the hoh is significantly higher than the single rate
- acmeravenLv 79 years ago
A married, filing joint return will most likely even increase your refund. As for your son and claiming him don't be surprised if there is some communications from the IRS you will be dealing with. Because of weird and conflicting court orders and decrees and yadda the IRS has put its own controlling set of rules in place to determine who can claim dependents and etc. When they get around to checking out you and yours don't be surprised if adjustments happen. You can check the flow charts that make the determination by going to IRS.GOV and downloading or ordering a free PUB 17.
- chatsplasLv 79 years ago
Run some tax calculators and see. . . we don't have enough info. . . . .
www.irs.gov Paycheckcity JacksonHewitt MyTaxManager
Tax issues should not be the main reason to get or not get married
MFJ is very favorable tax filing status. . . .you and hubby would combine income and exemptions
YES, you could claim your son if you're married, the same way you do now, but not HOH
MFS would preclude getting EITC, but MFJ, depending on income, would still be available
Source(s): tax pro - Max HooplaLv 79 years ago
No way for us to know. Why don't you download copies of last years forms, pretend you were married and prepare a fake joint return for the two of you and see how being married compares to what you actually filed. Don't file it, just look at it.
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- Cathi KLv 79 years ago
The standard deduction for married joint is higher than head of household. Since we do not have your numbers we cannot tell.
