Can a married couple filing jointly submit two separate Form 1040s with Schedule 1?
I'm so confused about this tax issue and hoping someone can help me out! My wife and I always file jointly (MFJ) because it saves us a decent amount of money, but I'm wondering if we're supposed to submit two separate Form 1040s with Schedule 1? Here's our situation - I have my regular W-2 job but also do some freelance work on the side (about $12,000 last year). My wife works full-time with just a W-2. We've always filed one joint return, but someone at work told me that for the self-employment stuff, we need to file separate 1040 forms even though we're MFJ. That doesn't sound right to me, but taxes are definitely not my thing so I wanted to check. Do we really need to submit two Forms 1040 with Schedule 1 for our situation? Or can we just do one joint return that includes everything? Really appreciate any help because I don't want to mess this up for the 2025 filing season!
20 comments
Join the conversation
Ethan Wilson
You definitely don't need to submit two separate Form 1040s when filing married filing jointly (MFJ). The whole point of MFJ is that you combine both spouses' income, deductions, credits, etc. on a single tax return. For your situation with freelance income, you'll file one Form 1040 for both of you. The self-employment income gets reported on Schedule C, and then the resulting self-employment tax is calculated on Schedule SE. The self-employment tax amount then gets reported on Schedule 2, and any adjustments to income (like the deductible portion of self-employment tax) go on Schedule 1. Your W-2 income and your wife's W-2 income both go on the same 1040. Whoever told you that you need separate 1040s for self-employment income was mistaken.
0 coins
NeonNova
•But what if each spouse has different types of income beyond just W-2? Like if one has rental income and the other has self-employment? Would you need separate Schedule 1 forms then?
0 coins
Ethan Wilson
•You still only need one Form 1040 and one Schedule 1 when filing jointly, regardless of the types of income each spouse has. The Schedule 1 has room to report various income types from both spouses - rental income, self-employment (though the details of self-employment go on Schedule C), unemployment, etc. When filing jointly, the IRS doesn't distinguish between which spouse earned which income - it all goes on the same set of forms as if you were a single economic unit. That's one of the key features of joint filing.
0 coins
Yuki Tanaka
I had this exact same confusion last year and wasted so much time trying to figure it out. I finally used taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) to help sort it out when I was stuck on the Schedule 1 and 1040 questions. They have this cool tool that reviews your tax docs and tells you exactly which forms you need to file based on your specific situation. For my wife and I, we have W-2 income plus some 1099 work and dividends. The tool confirmed we just needed ONE 1040 with all our income together, not separate ones. It also explained exactly where to put each income type. Super helpful for complicated situations where you have multiple income sources between spouses.
0 coins
Carmen Diaz
•How accurate is taxr.ai compared to just asking a tax professional? I've got a complicated situation with my wife having rental property income and me having a small business, and I'm worried about making mistakes.
0 coins
Andre Laurent
•Does it actually check if you've filled out the forms correctly? Or just tell you which forms you need? I'm always nervous I'm putting numbers in the wrong boxes.
0 coins
Yuki Tanaka
•For accuracy, I found it comparable to what my accountant friend told me, but a lot more convenient since I could do it at midnight when I was actually working on my taxes. It's based on IRS guidelines, so the advice is solid. It does both - tells you which forms you need AND checks that you've completed them correctly. It will flag potential errors like if you've put business income in the wrong section or forgotten to complete a required schedule. That's what was most helpful for me - catching mistakes before filing.
0 coins
Andre Laurent
Just wanted to follow up! I tried taxr.ai after seeing it mentioned here and it was super helpful for my situation. My husband and I were confused about exactly this issue - whether we needed separate Schedule 1 forms for our different income sources (I have freelance income, he has some stock trading). The tool analyzed our situation and confirmed we only needed ONE Form 1040 with ONE Schedule 1 that combines all our additional income sources. It even showed us exactly where each type of income goes on the forms. Saved us from potentially making a big mistake on our taxes! I'm definitely using it again for our 2025 filing.
0 coins
Emily Jackson
If you're still confused after getting advice here, I highly recommend trying to call the IRS directly. I had a similar question about filing jointly with multiple income types and needed an official answer. BUT - good luck actually getting through to them! I spent hours on hold and kept getting disconnected. Finally used a service called Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) that got me connected to an IRS agent in about 20 minutes instead of waiting for hours. They have a demo video here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c showing how it works. The IRS agent confirmed that MFJ filers submit ONE 1040 and consolidate all schedules - never separate 1040s. Getting that direct confirmation from the IRS gave me peace of mind.
0 coins
Liam Mendez
•How does this Claimyr thing actually work? I've tried calling the IRS multiple times and just gave up after being on hold forever. Seems too good to be true that they can get you through that quickly.
0 coins
Sophia Nguyen
•I'm skeptical. The IRS phone system is a nightmare by design. How can some random service magically get you through when millions of people can't? Sounds like they're either charging a fortune or it doesn't actually work as advertised.
0 coins
Emily Jackson
•It uses technology to navigate the IRS phone tree and waits on hold for you. When they reach a human agent, they call you and connect you directly to that agent. It's completely legit - they just automate the waiting process so you don't have to sit there listening to the hold music. They can't change how long the overall wait is for everyone, but they handle the waiting part for you. So instead of being stuck on the phone for 3 hours, you just get a call when an agent is actually ready to talk. It's basically the same as having someone else wait on hold for you.
0 coins
Sophia Nguyen
Update on my skepticism about Claimyr: I actually tried it yesterday after posting here because I had a question about my estimated tax payments that I needed resolved quickly. I really didn't think it would work but was desperate after multiple failed attempts to reach the IRS myself. I'm honestly shocked - it actually did connect me to an IRS agent in about 35 minutes (the estimated wait was 2+ hours). The agent confirmed for me that with MFJ, we only file one 1040 and all schedules are combined, even with multiple income types. The service saved me hours of frustration and I got my answer directly from the IRS. Definitely worth it during tax season when the wait times are insane.
0 coins
Jacob Smithson
Another thing to consider - if you're worried about liability issues between spouses, filing MFJ with one return means you're both responsible for the entire tax return. If that's a concern, you could consider Married Filing Separately, which would indeed be two separate 1040s. But you'd likely pay more tax that way.
0 coins
Isabella Brown
•Is there any way to get the tax benefits of MFJ but still have some protection if your spouse has complicated tax situations you're not involved with? My husband has a small business that I don't participate in at all.
0 coins
Jacob Smithson
•You might want to look into requesting "Innocent Spouse Relief" which can protect you from liability for unpaid taxes if your spouse incorrectly reported items on your joint tax return. But this is after-the-fact protection, not something you file for proactively. For ongoing protection, Married Filing Separately is really the only option, but you'll typically pay more in taxes. Most couples find that the tax savings of MFJ outweigh the protection of MFS, unless there are serious concerns about tax compliance by one spouse.
0 coins
Maya Patel
Has anyone actually tried using TurboTax for this situation? My partner and I have a similar setup (both W-2s plus I have freelance work) and I'm wondering if the software handles this clearly or if it's confusing.
0 coins
Aiden Rodríguez
•TurboTax handles this fine. I used it last year with a similar situation. It asks about all income sources for both spouses and puts everything on the right forms. You never have to manually decide about "one form vs two forms" - it just creates one joint return with all the right schedules.
0 coins
Raj Gupta
As someone who's been through this exact confusion, I can confirm what everyone else is saying - you only need ONE Form 1040 when filing married filing jointly, regardless of how many different income sources you and your wife have. Your freelance income will go on Schedule C (Profit or Loss from Business), and then the self-employment tax gets calculated on Schedule SE. The net earnings from self-employment and the deductible portion of your self-employment tax will flow to Schedule 1. Your W-2 income and your wife's W-2 income both get reported in the wages section of the main 1040. The person at work who told you that you need separate 1040s for self-employment income was definitely mistaken. That's never required for MFJ filers. The whole point of joint filing is that all income, deductions, and credits from both spouses get combined on a single return. Just make sure you keep good records of your freelance income and expenses for Schedule C. With $12,000 in freelance income, you'll likely owe some self-employment tax, so consider making quarterly estimated payments if you haven't been doing that already.
0 coins
CosmicCowboy
•This is really helpful! I'm in a similar boat with freelance income but wasn't sure about the quarterly estimated payments part. How do you figure out if you need to make those? Is there a threshold where it becomes required, or is it just recommended to avoid a big tax bill at the end of the year?
0 coins