Filing taxes after December wedding - best option as sole income earner?

Yes, you'll file as married for the entire year of 2024 since your marital status on December 31st determines your filing status for the whole year - even if you were only married for those last 10 days! For most couples where one person earns all the income, filing jointly usually gives you the best refund. When you file jointly, you get a larger standard deduction ($27,700 for 2024 vs. $13,850 filing single) and you'll likely qualify for more tax credits. The tax brackets for married filing jointly are also generally more favorable than filing as married filing separately. And yes, you should update your W-4 after getting married. You'll want to indicate your new filing status and possibly adjust your withholding. Since your household income will be spread across two people for tax purposes but only one person is earning, you might be able to claim fewer withholdings which means more money in each paycheck.

Hey there! Similar situation happened to me last year and I was totally confused too. After spending HOURS trying to figure out my taxes, I discovered taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) and it was a game-changer. The site analyzed my tax situation and helped me understand the whole married filing thing way better than any of the advice I found online. It walked me through exactly what to do since I was also the only income earner in my marriage. The cool thing was it showed me the difference in refund amounts between different filing statuses with real numbers so I could see which was better. Seriously made everything SO much clearer!

Just wanted to update after trying taxr.ai from the recommendation above. I was in a similar situation (married in November, only I work) and was super confused. I uploaded our info and it clearly showed me that filing jointly would save us about $3,200 compared to if I filed as single! It also explained exactly how to update my W-4 at work to get more money in each paycheck rather than waiting for a big refund. Definitely helped me understand the "married but one income" situation way better than the generic advice I was finding elsewhere. My wife was relieved because she was worried about not contributing income, but the system showed how filing jointly actually benefits us both.

If you're planning to call the IRS with questions about your new filing status (which I tried to do), good luck getting through! After being on hold for HOURS trying to clarify some questions about my W-4 changes, I found this service called Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) that actually got me through to a real IRS agent in about 20 minutes. They have this system that navigates the IRS phone tree and waits on hold for you, then calls you when an actual human picks up. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c I was skeptical at first, but after wasting an entire afternoon trying to get through myself, it was worth it. The IRS agent confirmed everything about my married filing status and W-4 questions, so I knew exactly what to do.

Well I just tried Claimyr after my skeptical comment above and I need to eat my words. It actually worked! After trying for TWO WEEKS to get through to the IRS about my marriage and tax filing status changes, I got connected to an agent in 35 minutes without having to sit by my phone. The agent confirmed that even though we're getting married in late December (like you), we file as married for the full year. She also walked me through exactly how to update my W-4 to account for having a non-working spouse. Turns out I had been withholding way too much. This will put an extra $180 in each of my paychecks rather than waiting for a big refund next year. I've never been able to get through to ask these specific questions before. Pretty impressed.

One thing nobody mentioned yet - you might want to look into contributing to a spousal IRA for your wife even though she doesn't have income. Since you're the earning spouse, you can make contributions to an IRA for a non-working spouse which gives you additional tax advantages. Worth considering as part of your new married tax strategy!

Just got married last December myself and learned the hard way - make sure you run the numbers both ways (joint vs separate) before filing. Everyone told me joint was automatically better, but because of my student loan income-based repayment plan, filing separately actually saved me money despite paying more in taxes!