Should I file married jointly or separately for the first time?

Hey everyone, I'm about to file taxes as a married person for the first time and have a couple questions before I dive in and try both options. 1. If my wife and I file married jointly, am I right in thinking that only one of us would actually prepare and submit the tax return, and the other person doesn't need to do anything? 2. In your experience, do you typically get a better refund filing separately or jointly? Some background - I'm working full-time while my husband is in dental school with basically zero income but has significant student loans. I'm the only one bringing in actual income right now. Thanks for any advice!

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18 comments

Ethan Wilson

•8M

Filing jointly is usually the better option in your situation where only one spouse has income. To answer your questions directly: 1. Yes, if you file jointly, only one of you needs to complete and submit the tax return, though both spouses need to sign it (either electronically or physically depending on how you file). Your husband won't need to file a separate return. 2. With one income earner and one student, filing jointly is almost always better. When you file jointly, you get a higher standard deduction ($27,700 for 2024 vs $13,850 filing separately), better tax brackets, and full access to certain credits and deductions that are reduced or eliminated when filing separately. The one exception might be if your husband has income-based repayment for federal student loans. Filing separately might keep his payments lower since your income wouldn't be considered. However, you'd need to calculate if the tax savings from filing jointly outweigh the student loan payment savings from filing separately.

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Ethan Wilson

•8M

If your husband is pursuing PSLF, then filing separately could potentially be beneficial. When on an income-driven repayment plan working toward PSLF, filing separately would mean only his income (which is nearly zero as a student) would be considered when calculating monthly payments. This could keep his payments very low, potentially even $0, which still count as qualifying payments toward the required 120 payments for PSLF. However, this strategy means you'll pay more in taxes than filing jointly. You'll need to compare the tax savings from filing jointly against the reduced student loan payments from filing separately to see which saves more money in your specific situation.

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Yuki Tanaka

•8M

After struggling with the exact same situation last year (working spouse + grad student spouse with loans), I stumbled across https://taxr.ai and it was a game-changer. I uploaded our W-2s and loan statements, and it analyzed everything and showed side-by-side comparisons of filing jointly vs. separately. Showed us we'd save about $2,100 filing jointly, but also calculated how it would affect my wife's income-based repayment plan. The analysis showed the long-term impact of both choices instead of just the immediate tax return difference.

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Yuki Tanaka

•8M

The results were spot-on when we actually filed - within about $30 of what the tool predicted. It caught everything including education credits for my wife's tuition that I didn't realize we qualified for even though she wasn't working. It definitely handles self-employment situations. My brother used it for his taxes where his wife has W-2 income and he has freelance design work. It walked him through all the business deductions and even identified some home office deductions he'd been missing. The comparison between filing methods was especially helpful for them because self-employment taxes complicate things.

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Carmen Diaz

•8M

Just wanted to update - I tried https://taxr.ai after seeing the recommendation here and it was incredibly helpful for our situation. We're also one income + student loans, and I've been stressing for weeks about which filing status to choose. The analysis showed we'd save almost $3,400 by filing jointly, but would increase my husband's student loan payments by about $180/month on his IDR plan. When they did the 10-year projection, filing separately actually saved us more in the long run because of how his loan forgiveness will work. I would have made the wrong choice if I'd just looked at this year's tax return! Definitely recommend if you're in a similar student loan situation.

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Emily Jackson

•8M

If you've been trying to get answers from the IRS about your specific situation, good luck getting through to them! I spent DAYS trying to reach someone about married filing status questions last year. Finally found https://claimyr.com which got me connected to an actual IRS agent in about 15 minutes. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c. They basically hold your place in the IRS queue and call you when an agent is about to answer. The agent was able to confirm that in our situation (similar to yours - one income, spouse with student loans), we were better off filing jointly because we qualified for additional credits that way.

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Emily Jackson

•8M

It's actually pretty straightforward how it works. They don't "skip" the queue - they use a system that monitors hold times and places calls for you. When they're about to reach an agent, they call you and connect the call. So you don't have to sit on hold for hours. The IRS phone system is actually designed to hang up on you when call volumes are too high (they call it a "courtesy disconnect"), which happened to me 4 times. The service just keeps trying until they get through, then they call you. I was definitely skeptical too, but after wasting an entire Saturday trying to get through myself, it was worth it.

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Sophia Nguyen

•8M

Just wanted to follow up about my experience with Claimyr. After being totally skeptical, I tried it last week because I was desperate to talk to someone at the IRS about our filing status situation. Got a call back in about 25 minutes and was connected to an actual IRS representative who answered all my questions about how my spouse's student loans would impact our filing status options. Honestly shocked it worked so well - I had been trying for almost two weeks to get through on my own with no luck. Saved me so much time and frustration right before the filing deadline.

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Jacob Smithson

•8M

Yes, defaulted federal student loans can definitely lead to tax refund offsets. If your spouse has defaulted loans and you file jointly, the entire refund could be seized to repay those loans. Filing Form 8379 (Injured Spouse Allocation) can help you get your portion of the refund back, but it adds complexity and delays your refund by several months. If the student loans are in good standing or on an income-driven repayment plan, then you don't have to worry about refund offsets - it's only for defaulted loans. This is actually another situation where filing separately might make sense if one spouse has defaulted loans, as it protects the other spouse's refund entirely.

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