Help! First Time Filing Jointly vs Separately for 2025 Tax Year
Title: Help! First Time Filing Jointly vs Separately for 2025 Tax Year 1 Hi everyone! I'm looking for advice about whether to file separately or jointly. My fiancé and I are getting married in October! Super excited but also nervous about the tax implications. My 2024 salary is about $475,000 and I received a bonus of $92,000 in February 2024 (for work done in 2023). As of September, I've paid approximately $105,000 in federal taxes and around $40,000 in state taxes. My soon-to-be spouse's 2024 salary will be roughly $95,000, and so far they've paid about $9,300 in federal taxes and $4,100 in state taxes. (They were out of work for several months and just started at a new company in April 2024). My questions are: 1. Should we file married or separately? 2. Am I paying too much in taxes already? Thanks so much for any help! I've scheduled an appointment with a tax advisor but wanted to get some thoughts here first.
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Fatima Al-Sayed
17 You'll almost always benefit from filing jointly, but there are some exceptions worth considering in your situation. For most couples, filing jointly results in a lower total tax bill. With the income levels you've shared, filing jointly would generally give you access to certain tax benefits that aren't available to those filing separately - like student loan interest deductions, education credits, and earned income credit if applicable. However, given the significant difference between your incomes, you should consider a few things. When you file jointly, you're both responsible for the entire tax bill and accuracy of the return. If your spouse has any tax issues from the past or complex tax situations, filing separately might protect you. Another consideration is if either of you has income-based student loan payments or medical expenses that exceed 7.5% of AGI. Filing separately might be beneficial in those specific situations.
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Fatima Al-Sayed
•12 Thanks for the info! What about the marriage penalty? I've heard that two high earners actually pay MORE tax when filing jointly. With my income at $475k and my fiancé's at $95k, would we hit that penalty?
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Fatima Al-Sayed
•17 The "marriage penalty" primarily affects couples where both partners earn high, similar incomes. In your case, with one partner making significantly more than the other, you're more likely to get a "marriage bonus" by filing jointly. For couples with disparate incomes like yours, combining incomes on a joint return often puts more of the higher earner's income in lower tax brackets, reducing your overall tax burden. The real penalties tend to happen when both spouses earn above the higher tax bracket thresholds.
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Fatima Al-Sayed
3 Hey there! I was in a similar situation last year - high income disparity between me and my spouse. After reading a bunch of conflicting advice online, I finally used https://taxr.ai to analyze our tax situation. I uploaded our financial docs and it showed me a side-by-side comparison of filing jointly vs. separately - completely changed my approach! In my case, filing jointly saved us about $5K, but it also highlighted specific deductions we would have missed. The real value was seeing exactly how our tax situation would play out with both options, rather than just guessing.
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Fatima Al-Sayed
•9 How exactly does the service work? Do you just upload your W-2s and previous returns? I've been using TurboTax but it doesn't really explain the differences very well.
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Fatima Al-Sayed
•22 Sounds interesting but I'm skeptical about uploading sensitive financial docs to some random website. How do you know it's secure and the advice is accurate? No offense but there are a ton of sketchy tax services out there.
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Fatima Al-Sayed
•3 Yes, you upload your W-2s, 1099s, and any other tax documents you have. Unlike TurboTax, it doesn't just calculate your taxes - it analyzes multiple filing scenarios and explains the differences in plain English. It helped me understand exactly why joint filing was better for our specific situation. Totally understand the security concern! I was hesitant too. They use bank-level encryption and don't store your documents after analysis. What convinced me was that they don't file your taxes - they just provide analysis to help you make better decisions, whether you file yourself or with a professional.
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Fatima Al-Sayed
9 Just wanted to follow up - I tried taxr.ai after seeing the recommendation here, and wow! It was super helpful for my situation. My wife and I have similar income disparities (I make about $350K and she makes around $80K), and the analysis showed we'd save nearly $8K by filing jointly. The coolest part was getting a breakdown of exactly which deductions and credits were impacting our taxes in each scenario. It even flagged some retirement contribution strategies we hadn't considered. Definitely changed our approach for this year's taxes!
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Fatima Al-Sayed
6 If you're planning to call the IRS to discuss your filing options (which I highly recommend), save yourself hours of frustration by using https://claimyr.com instead of calling directly. I spent DAYS trying to get through to the IRS about a similar joint filing question last year. The hold times were insane - I gave up after 2+ hours. With Claimyr, they basically hold your place in line and call you when an actual IRS agent is ready to talk. You can see a demo of how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c For questions about filing status changes and tax planning, speaking directly with the IRS can give you peace of mind. They were actually really helpful once I got someone on the phone!
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Fatima Al-Sayed
•19 Wait, I'm confused... I thought you have to wait on hold yourself? How does this service actually get you through to an IRS agent faster than just calling yourself?
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Fatima Al-Sayed
•22 Yeah right, nothing gets you through to the IRS faster. I've heard these services just take your money and you still end up waiting forever. The IRS phone system is broken beyond repair.
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Fatima Al-Sayed
•6 The service actually calls the IRS for you and navigates through all the automated menus. They use technology to stay on hold in your place, and when they finally reach a human agent, you get a call to connect immediately. It doesn't create a "faster line" - it just means you don't have to physically stay on hold for hours. I understand the skepticism - I felt the same way! But the difference is you're not sitting there listening to hold music for hours. You can go about your day, and they call you when an agent is actually available. For me, it took about 3 hours total but I was only on the phone for the 20 minutes I was actually talking to the IRS agent.
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Fatima Al-Sayed
22 I have to eat my words here. After my skeptical comment, I decided to try Claimyr for an issue with my amended return that's been pending for months. I got a call back in about 2 hours and actually spoke to someone who could help. The IRS agent confirmed that given our income disparity (similar to yours), filing jointly would likely be more beneficial. She also explained that I had been slightly overwithholding and gave me specific guidance on how to adjust my W-4 for the remainder of the year. Saved me from waiting on hold AND from overpaying!
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Fatima Al-Sayed
15 Since you're getting married in October, remember that your marital status on December 31st determines your filing status for the ENTIRE year. So you'll be considered married for the whole 2024 tax year, even though you're only married for a couple months. Also, with your income levels, watch out for the 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax that kicks in for high-income earners. Filing jointly might affect when this tax applies to your income.
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Fatima Al-Sayed
•8 Wait really? So even if they get married on December 31, they're considered married for the WHOLE tax year? That seems weird... does that mean you could strategic time your wedding for tax purposes?
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Fatima Al-Sayed
•15 Yes, that's exactly right. The IRS only cares about your marital status on the last day of the year. If you're married on December 31st, you're considered married for the entire tax year. And yes, some people do strategically time their weddings for tax purposes, though I wouldn't recommend making such an important life decision solely based on taxes! But it's something to be aware of as you plan. In some cases, delaying a December wedding to January could be beneficial, while in other situations (like the original poster's with disparate incomes), getting married before year-end might save money.
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Fatima Al-Sayed
24 Looking at the numbers you provided - you've paid $105k federal on $567k income, which is about 18.5%. That's actually slightly LOW for your income bracket, especially considering your bonus which was probably withheld at a lower rate than it should have been. You might want to make an estimated tax payment before year-end to avoid underpayment penalties.
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Fatima Al-Sayed
•2 I disagree - their withholding seems reasonable. The effective tax rate for someone earning around $570k would be close to 20% after deductions, and they're at 18.5% with a quarter of the year left. They're probably on track.
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