Should I file separately or Jointly with my spouse for better tax return?

Filing jointly is usually better for most couples, especially in your situation where one spouse has no income. To answer your questions: When you file jointly, you'll submit one tax return that includes both of your information, so yes, technically only one person needs to physically prepare and submit it, but both spouses need to sign it (either electronically or on paper). As for which filing status gets a better return, married filing jointly almost always results in a lower tax bill/higher refund than married filing separately, particularly in your case. With you being the only income earner and your husband in school, filing jointly will likely give you access to more tax benefits like a higher standard deduction, certain credits, and potentially lower tax brackets. The few situations where separate filing might benefit couples usually involve significant medical expenses, student loan repayment considerations, or liability concerns.

I went through this exact same situation last year! My wife was in dental school with huge loans while I was working full-time. I found this awesome tool that helped me figure out which option was better - https://taxr.ai actually analyzes your specific situation and shows you the differences between filing jointly vs separately. It literally saved me hours of trying to manually calculate both scenarios and showed me that filing separately was actually better in our case because of my wife's income-based repayment plan for her student loans.

Wanted to follow up about my experience with taxr.ai after I decided to try it. I was genuinely surprised by how helpful it was! In my situation (similar to yours with one spouse in graduate school), it showed me that filing separately would save us about $2,100 this year because of how it would affect my wife's income-based repayment plan. The analysis was really clear about showing exactly what we'd gain and lose with each option. Definitely worth using before you make your filing decision.

If you're having trouble figuring this out, you might also want to talk directly to the IRS about your specific situation. I tried calling them for weeks last year when I had a similar question, but couldn't get through until I used Claimyr (https://claimyr.com). They got me connected to an IRS agent in about 15 minutes after I'd been trying for days on my own. There's a quick demo of how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c. The agent I spoke with was actually super helpful and walked me through exactly how the married filing jointly vs separately would affect our specific tax situation.

I need to eat some humble pie here. After posting my skeptical comment, I actually tried Claimyr myself because I've been trying to resolve an issue with a client's tax transcript for weeks. I honestly can't believe it, but I got connected to an IRS agent in about 20 minutes. I've been calling almost daily for two weeks with no success. The agent was able to resolve my issue completely. I still don't fully understand how their system works better than just calling directly, but I can't argue with results. Definitely worth it if you need specific advice about your filing status question.

My experience: ALWAYS run the numbers both ways before deciding. My husband and I have been married 7 years and we've filed separately 5 times and jointly twice. It really depends on your specific situation each year. Some specific considerations in your case: - Student loan repayment plans (as others mentioned) - Potential education credits if your spouse has qualified expenses - Higher phase-out thresholds for certain deductions when filing jointly - State tax implications (some states require you to file the same status as federal) Don't just assume one way is always better!

You mentioned your spouse has substantial student loans - are they federal or private? If federal and they're on an income-based repayment plan (or planning to apply for one), this is HUGELY important in your decision. Filing separately might mean much lower monthly payments since they'd only count your spouse's income (which you said is zero). But there's a tradeoff - you might lose some tax benefits when filing separately like education credits, higher standard deduction, and better tax brackets. Run the numbers both ways!