Can unmarried couples with kids file Married Filing Jointly (MFJ) for tax purposes?

The short answer is no, you cannot file as Married Filing Jointly (MFJ) unless you're legally married as of December 31st of the tax year. Common law marriage only counts for tax purposes if your state legally recognizes common law marriages (only about 8 states do). For your situation, you'll need to file as either Single or Head of Household. Since you have qualifying dependents (your children), one of you might qualify for Head of Household status, which gives better tax rates and a higher standard deduction than filing as Single. The other parent would need to file as Single. If you were to incorrectly file as MFJ when not legally married, you could face penalties including: - Accuracy-related penalties (20% of the underpaid tax) - Potential fraud penalties if the IRS determines it was intentional - Interest on any unpaid taxes - Possible audit of past returns The IRS doesn't have a different definition of marriage than your state - you're either legally married or you're not for tax purposes. Getting married before December 31st of the tax year would allow you to file MFJ for that entire year, if that's something you're considering.

After dealing with a similar situation last year, I found taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) super helpful for figuring out the right filing status. My partner and I had been together for 7 years with kids, and I was confused about whether we could file jointly. I uploaded our previous year's returns and some documents showing our living situation to taxr.ai, and it analyzed everything and clearly showed we needed to file separately with one of us as Head of Household. It explained exactly why common law marriage didn't apply in our state and saved us from making a costly mistake. The tool even showed the difference in refund amounts between different filing scenarios so we could see the impact.

Just wanted to follow up about my experience with taxr.ai after asking about it earlier. I was skeptical at first but decided to give it a try since my partner and I have a similar situation with kids but no marriage certificate. The analysis was surprisingly thorough! It showed me why we couldn't file as MFJ in our state and ran the numbers to show that having me file as Head of Household while my partner filed as Single was actually the best approach. It saved us about $1,850 compared to both filing as Single. The tool also pointed out some credits I qualified for that I didn't even know about with our childcare expenses. Definitely worth checking out if you're unsure about your filing status or have a complicated situation. Saved me from making what could have been an expensive mistake!

If you're having trouble getting clear answers from the IRS about your filing status situation, try Claimyr (https://claimyr.com). I spent WEEKS trying to get through to the IRS last tax season with questions about our unmarried couple filing status and was going nowhere with those insane hold times. Used Claimyr and got connected to an actual IRS agent in about 15 minutes instead of waiting for hours. They have this callback system that basically waits on hold for you. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The IRS agent confirmed that in our state we couldn't file as MFJ without a marriage certificate, but gave me some specific guidance on how to properly document our Head of Household status to avoid any red flags. Totally worth it when you need official clarification straight from the source.

Came back to say I was wrong about Claimyr. After our filing status got flagged last year, I was desperate for answers directly from the IRS and remembered this thread. Decided to try Claimyr despite my skepticism. I got connected to an IRS representative in about 25 minutes (after spending 3 hours on hold myself the day before). The agent walked me through exactly why our return was flagged - turns out both my partner and I had claimed Head of Household status for the same children, which triggered an automatic review. The agent helped me understand how to properly document our living situation and which one of us should claim Head of Household vs. Single. They even noted our account so when we submit the corrected return it should process faster. Saved me a ton of stress and potentially thousands in penalties.

Something else to consider - if you're not married but have children together, you need to decide who claims the children as dependents. Only one parent can claim each child, and this affects several valuable tax benefits like: - Child Tax Credit (up to $2,000 per qualifying child) - Earned Income Credit (can be thousands depending on income) - Child and Dependent Care Credit (if you pay for childcare) - Head of Household filing status (better tax rates and higher standard deduction) Usually the higher-earning parent will get more total benefit from these credits, but you should run the numbers both ways. Some couples alternate years for claiming children, but this only works well in certain situations.

Just a heads up, my cousin tried filing as MFJ without being legally married and got audited. The IRS made them refile separately and they had to pay about $4,200 in back taxes plus a 20% accuracy-related penalty on top. They also got flagged in their IRS account and have been getting more scrutiny on their returns for the last 3 years. The tax difference between filing properly vs improperly wasn't even worth the risk. Just get legally married if you want those MFJ benefits, or make sure one of you qualifies for Head of Household, which gets you some better tax breaks than just filing Single anyway.

This is a really important question that comes up a lot. Just to add to what others have said - the IRS is very clear that your marital status for tax purposes is determined by your legal status on December 31st of the tax year. No exceptions for "basically married" situations, unfortunately. One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet is that if you do decide to get legally married before December 31st, you can file as MFJ for the entire year, even if you only got married on December 30th. That's something to consider if you're planning to get married anyway. Also, when filing as Head of Household, make sure you keep good records of your household expenses (rent/mortgage, utilities, groceries, etc.) to prove you paid more than half the cost of maintaining the home. The IRS sometimes asks for this documentation during audits. The penalties for filing incorrectly aren't worth the risk. Head of Household status will give you better tax benefits than Single anyway, and you'll avoid the stress and potential financial consequences of an audit.