Should a married couple file taxes separately for more child tax credits?

Title: Should a married couple file taxes separately for more child tax credits? 1 We're blessed with a pretty large family - myself, my husband, and our 5 amazing kiddos. It's chaotic but we wouldn't trade it for anything! For years we've always filed our taxes jointly since I was the only one earning income. But things have changed now that my wife started working last year. I'm trying to figure out if we should continue filing jointly or switch to married filing separately for the 2025 tax year. My thinking is that we might maximize our child tax credits if we split them up - maybe I claim 3 children and she claims 2 children? Would this approach actually increase our total credits? Is this even allowed by the IRS? I'm worried about making the wrong choice and missing out on potential refund money with such a large family. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!! THANKS IN ADVANCE!!

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20 comments

Luca Greco

•8M

8 While married couples can file separately, it's generally not advantageous for child tax credits. When you file separately, several tax benefits are reduced or eliminated entirely. For the Child Tax Credit specifically, if you file separately, the income threshold where the credit begins to phase out is much lower than when filing jointly. Also, you can't both claim different children - the IRS has tiebreaker rules that determine which parent can claim dependents when not filing jointly. Usually it's the parent with whom the child lived for more of the year. Additionally, filing separately disqualifies you from several other benefits like the Earned Income Credit, education credits, and the child and dependent care credit. Your standard deduction would also be lower per person when filing separately versus jointly.

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Luca Greco

•8M

8 You're welcome! If you both live with all 5 children full-time, you technically could agree on who claims which children, but it's rarely beneficial for the Child Tax Credit. When filing separately, the Child Tax Credit begins phasing out at just $75,000 instead of $150,000 for joint filers. With your combined income of $135,000, you'd likely maximize your credits by filing jointly, as one or both of you might exceed the lower threshold individually. Filing jointly also gives you access to other valuable credits and deductions that are unavailable when filing separately, which would almost certainly result in paying more total tax as a family.

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Luca Greco

•8M

15 After spending hours trying to figure out my own situation with multiple kids, I finally used https://taxr.ai to analyze our specific scenario. My spouse and I were in a similar situation - we have 4 kids and she recently started working after being a SAHM for years. The tool actually showed us side-by-side comparisons of filing jointly vs separately with our actual numbers. For us, we would have lost over $3,800 by filing separately! It analyzed all the credits and deductions we'd lose access to when filing separately, including some I hadn't even considered. The simulation even showed how the income thresholds work differently with each filing status.

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Luca Greco

•8M

15 Yes, it broke down every credit we'd lose access to! Besides the Earned Income Credit, we would have lost the full Child and Dependent Care Credit and several education credits we qualified for. It even explained how the Child Tax Credit phase-out works differently with each filing status. The big difference from regular tax software is it actually showed both scenarios simultaneously and explained why the difference existed. Most tax software makes you pick a filing status first, then does all the calculations without showing you what you might be missing with other options.

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Luca Greco

•8M

3 I wanted to follow up after trying that https://taxr.ai tool someone mentioned here. I was super curious about my specific situation with 2 kids and my wife's new part-time job. Honestly, I'm glad I checked because I was about to make a HUGE mistake! Filing separately would have cost us over $2,200 compared to filing jointly! The tool showed exactly how the Child Tax Credit gets limited when filing separately, plus all the other credits we'd completely lose. It even created a custom report explaining everything in simple terms that I could actually understand. What surprised me most was how the income phase-out thresholds work differently. I had no idea filing separately would cut the threshold in half! Definitely filing jointly for 2025.

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Luca Greco

•8M

7 If you're struggling to get answers from the IRS about your specific situation, I highly recommend using https://claimyr.com to get through to an actual IRS agent. I was in a similar situation trying to figure out filing status options with my blended family and spent DAYS trying to reach someone. With Claimyr, I got connected to an IRS rep in about 15 minutes instead of the 3+ hour wait I experienced before. They have this cool system that holds your place in line and calls you when an agent is ready. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The IRS agent I spoke with explained exactly how claiming children works when married filing separately and confirmed it would significantly reduce our eligible credits. They also helped me understand how the income thresholds work differently between filing statuses.

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Luca Greco

•8M

7 You absolutely could keep calling yourself - if you have hours to waste on hold! I initially tried calling multiple times and either got disconnected or waited 2+ hours without reaching anyone. The service doesn't actually call for you - it navigates the IRS phone tree and holds your place in line. When an agent is about to be connected, it calls you. I was able to do other work while waiting instead of listening to hold music for hours. For me, my time was worth more than staying on hold indefinitely. It's definitely faster than the appointment system! IRS appointments in my area were backed up for 6+ weeks when I tried scheduling, and I needed answers right away to file correctly.

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Luca Greco

•8M

22 I need to apologize for my skepticism about Claimyr. After multiple failed attempts to reach the IRS myself (got disconnected TWICE after waiting over an hour), I reluctantly tried the service. Not gonna lie, I was shocked when I got a call back in about 20 minutes saying an IRS agent was on the line! The agent confirmed everything others here mentioned - filing separately would cost us thousands in lost credits with our income level and 3 kids. She specifically explained how the Child Tax Credit phases out at much lower income when filing separately and that we'd lose the Earned Income Credit entirely. This saved me from making a costly mistake on our taxes. The service worked exactly as advertised in that video. Sometimes it's worth getting official answers directly from the IRS.

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Luca Greco

•8M

5 I know everyone is saying filing jointly is better, but there ARE rare situations where filing separately can save money. For example, if one spouse has significant medical expenses (over 7.5% of AGI), massive casualty losses, or certain student loan situations. Also, if one spouse is on an income-based repayment plan for student loans, filing separately sometimes helps. It's worth running the numbers both ways before deciding. In my case, my husband's massive medical bills last year actually made filing separately better for us, even though we lost some credits.

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Luca Greco

•8M

5 Yes, you would typically need to itemize deductions to benefit from medical expenses when filing separately. The medical expense deduction only applies to expenses exceeding 7.5% of your adjusted gross income, so separating incomes can make a big difference when one spouse has very high medical costs. For student loans on income-based repayment, filing separately can sometimes result in lower monthly payments since they're based on individual rather than household income. However, this strategy often means paying more in taxes, so you need to calculate whether the loan payment savings outweigh the tax benefits lost by not filing jointly.

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Luca Greco

•8M

14 The expanded Child Tax Credit for 2025 actually makes filing jointly even MORE beneficial for most families. The increased credit amount ($2,000 per qualifying child) and higher refundability still phase out at much lower income thresholds when filing separately vs. jointly. Plus, remember that filing separately completely disqualifies you from several other valuable credits that were also expanded. The math almost never works out in favor of filing separately unless you have those special circumstances mentioned above (high medical expenses, etc.).

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Lilly Curtis

•4M

As a tax professional, I want to emphasize that for families with 5 children and your income level ($135,000 combined), filing jointly is almost certainly your best option. The key issue is that when married filing separately, the Child Tax Credit phases out starting at $75,000 per person instead of $150,000 for joint filers. With your combined income, one or both of you would likely exceed this lower threshold, reducing your total credits significantly. Additionally, filing separately would disqualify you from the Earned Income Credit entirely, which could be worth thousands with 5 qualifying children. You'd also lose access to education credits and the Child and Dependent Care Credit. I'd strongly recommend using tax software that can calculate both scenarios side-by-side so you can see the actual dollar difference. In my experience with large families at similar income levels, filing jointly typically saves $2,000-$4,000 compared to filing separately.

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