Should I file taxes jointly or separately during my divorce process?

Hey everyone, I'm in the middle of a really messy divorce right now and completely lost about how to handle our taxes. We're still legally married but living separately since June. We have two kids who've been staying primarily with me. My soon-to-be-ex makes about $85,000 as a project manager while I make around $63,000 teaching high school. We've always filed jointly before, but now I'm not sure what's best given our situation. Would it be financially better to file jointly one last time for 2024 or just go with married filing separately? I'm especially worried about how this affects claiming our kids as dependents. Any advice from people who've been through this would be really appreciated - this divorce has been stressful enough without tax complications!

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18 comments

Connor O'Reilly

•8M

Filing during divorce is definitely tricky but you've got options. First, you're still legally married as of December 31st, so you can choose either married filing jointly or married filing separately for 2024 taxes. Filing jointly usually provides better tax benefits (lower rates, more deductions/credits), but requires cooperation between you both. Since you mentioned it's messy, consider if you can work together on this one thing. Filing separately might cost more in taxes but gives you complete separation and protection from any tax issues your spouse might have. For your kids, since they're primarily with you, you'd likely qualify as the custodial parent who can claim them as dependents when filing separately. If you file jointly, it doesn't matter which parent claims them since you're filing one return.

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Connor O'Reilly

•8M

Yes, joint liability is a real concern. When filing jointly, both spouses are fully responsible for the accuracy of the return and any taxes owed, even if one spouse earned all the income. That's why it's sometimes safer to file separately during contentious divorces. You can absolutely file jointly even if living separately, as long as you're still legally married on December 31st of the tax year. The IRS looks at your legal marital status on the last day of the year, not your living arrangements.

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Keisha Taylor

•8M

I went through a similar nightmare last year and discovered taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) which honestly saved me so much stress. Our divorce was super complicated with rental properties and my ex's business, and I was totally confused about how to handle everything. I uploaded our previous returns and my current info, and the system broke down exactly how filing separately vs jointly would affect me financially. It showed me I'd save about $3,200 by filing jointly one last time, which made the awkward conversation with my ex worth it. It also helped me understand exactly how to handle claiming our daughter since I had primary custody.

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Keisha Taylor

•8M

It actually runs both scenarios side by side and shows the exact dollar difference in your tax liability or refund. It highlights which tax breaks you lose in each scenario, which was super helpful since I didn't know I'd lose some education credits by filing separately. For mortgage interest and property taxes, it absolutely helped with that. You can input what percentage each person paid, and it shows how to properly allocate those deductions when filing separately. It even identified a situation where my ex and I could both claim a portion based on actual payments we each made, which my regular tax software didn't explain clearly.

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Paolo Marino

•8M

I was really skeptical about trying another tax tool since I've been using TurboTax for years, but after reading about taxr.ai here, I decided to give it a shot with my divorce situation. Holy crap - best decision ever! It showed me that filing jointly would save us over $4,100 compared to filing separately, which was concrete evidence I could show my difficult ex. The tool specifically pointed out that we'd lose eligibility for certain child tax credits if we filed separately, which I had no idea about. We ended up filing jointly for one last year, split the tax savings, and now I have documentation for everything which has been helpful during the actual divorce proceedings. Thanks for recommending this!

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Amina Bah

•8M

Having just gone through this last year, I want to mention something else that helped me tremendously. I kept getting contradicting advice from friends about filing status during divorce, so I tried calling the IRS directly to get a definitive answer about my specific situation. As you can imagine, I couldn't get through after waiting for HOURS. Then I found this service called Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) that got me connected to an actual IRS agent in about 20 minutes instead of the usual 3+ hour wait. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The IRS agent clarified that because my divorce wasn't finalized by Dec 31, I could still file jointly but wasn't required to. She also explained exactly how the "head of household" status might apply in my situation with the kids, which saved me about $4,800 compared to married filing separately! Totally worth making the call.

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Amina Bah

•8M

It doesn't jump the queue exactly. From what I understand, they use an automated system that continuously calls the IRS and navigates the phone tree for you, then alerts you when it's about to connect with a human. So you're still in the same queue as everyone else, but you don't have to personally sit on hold for hours. Regarding getting different answers, that's always a possibility with any large organization. What helped me was that I had very specific questions prepared, and I asked the agent to reference the specific IRS publication numbers that covered my situation. I also took detailed notes during the call. In my experience, when you ask about specific tax code references, you tend to get more consistent answers.

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Natasha Petrova

•8M

I have to admit I was totally wrong about Claimyr. After posting that skeptical comment, my curiosity got the better of me and I decided to try it for myself since I had questions about my divorce and dependent situation that online articles couldn't answer clearly. The service actually worked exactly as described - I got a text when they were about to connect with an IRS agent (took about 25 minutes) and then I was talking to a real person. The agent walked me through the specific requirements for claiming head of household status during my separation and confirmed I was eligible even though my divorce wasn't final. She also explained exactly how the dependent care credit would work in my situation. Saved me a ton of anxiety and potentially thousands in incorrect filing. Sometimes it's good to be proven wrong!

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Javier Hernandez

•8M

I couldn't claim head of household that year because my divorce wasn't final yet and my ex and I were still living together for part of the year. I had to use married filing separately, which wasn't ideal tax-wise but gave me peace of mind. For your situation, since you've been living separately since June and have the kids primarily with you, you might qualify for head of household status even while still technically married. You'd need to meet certain requirements like paying more than half the cost of keeping up your home and having a qualifying dependent living with you for more than half the year. This status gives you better tax rates than married filing separately and access to certain credits you'd otherwise lose.

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