Will I still pay more taxes if I file as married in 2025?

Hey everyone, I'm trying to figure out my tax situation for next year. I recently got married in September and I'm wondering how this will affect my taxes when I file in 2025. Right now I'm the primary breadwinner (making about $87,000) while my wife is currently working part-time making around $28,000. I've heard about the "marriage penalty" and someone at work told me we might end up paying more in taxes by filing jointly than we would have as singles. Is this actually true? Does filing as "married filing jointly" automatically mean we'll pay more taxes? Or would we be better off filing as "married filing separately"? I'm especially concerned because we're planning to buy a house next year, and I want to make sure we're not hit with some unexpected tax bill when we file. Any advice on how marriage will impact our taxes would be super helpful!

0 coins

19 comments

Ahooker-Equator

•8M

Congrats on your marriage! The good news is that for your income levels, you probably won't face a "marriage penalty" - in fact, you might get a "marriage bonus" instead. The old "marriage penalty" used to hit more couples, but the 2017 tax law changes reduced this issue for many income levels. Since your incomes are somewhat different ($87k and $28k), filing jointly will likely benefit you compared to when you were both single. The marriage penalty typically affects couples where both spouses earn high and similar incomes. For your situation, I'd recommend running the numbers both ways (married filing jointly vs. married filing separately), but married filing jointly will almost certainly give you better results. MFS restricts many tax benefits and usually results in higher combined tax unless there are very specific circumstances. Also, when you buy that house next year, filing jointly will likely help you maximize mortgage interest and property tax deductions, assuming you itemize rather than take the standard deduction.

0 coins

Ahooker-Equator

•8M

The marriage penalty typically becomes noticeable when both spouses have incomes in the higher tax brackets - usually when both are earning above $170,000 each. At $87k and potentially $55k, you'd still likely benefit from filing jointly. The penalty occurs because the married filing jointly tax brackets aren't exactly double the single brackets at higher income levels. But for most middle-income couples, the combined standard deduction and wider lower tax brackets for joint filers often creates a marriage bonus.

0 coins

Tyrone Hill

•8M

I was in a similar situation last year and discovered taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) which really helped me understand my new tax situation after marriage. I was confused about whether to file jointly or separately, and their system analyzed our situation and showed us we'd save about $1,800 by filing jointly because of our income split. The site lets you upload your previous returns and run scenarios with different filing statuses. I found it super helpful because it showed exactly how our tax brackets changed when combining incomes. They also showed us how to adjust our W-4 withholdings so we wouldn't owe at tax time - which was a nice bonus!

0 coins

Tyrone Hill

•8M

Yes, it actually does factor in student loan considerations! It asks about income-based repayment plans and will flag when filing separately might make sense for that reason. It specifically showed how filing separately could lower your student loan payments enough to offset any tax increase. For accuracy, I cross-checked their calculations with HR Block and they matched perfectly. The difference is taxr.ai focuses specifically on analyzing different scenarios rather than just filing. It's more of a planning tool that shows the WHY behind tax changes when you get married, buy a house, etc.

0 coins

Lena Kowalski

•8M

Just wanted to update - I ended up trying taxr.ai after my skeptical comment above. Honestly, it was really eye-opening! My wife and I have been filing separately for 3 years because someone once told us it was better with student loans. Turns out we've been overpaying by about $2,300 each year! The tool showed exactly how the math worked out and that our student loan savings were only about $840 annually - so filing jointly would have been WAY better. They even showed us how to request refunds for prior years by filing amended returns. Wish I'd known about this sooner!

0 coins

DeShawn Washington

•8M

If you're worried about owing taxes next year, one huge issue is just getting through to the IRS if there's a problem. After my wedding last year, my name change caused a huge mess with my return. Tried calling the IRS for WEEKS with no luck - just endless hold times. Finally used Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) and it was a game-changer. Their system got me through to an actual IRS agent in about 15 minutes when I'd been trying unsuccessfully for days. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c Definitely bookmark it for next tax season - especially if you're making life changes like marriage and buying a house. Both of those can sometimes trigger review flags or processing delays.

0 coins

DeShawn Washington

•8M

It doesn't put you at the "front of the queue" - it uses an automated system that navigates the IRS phone tree and waits on hold for you. When an agent finally picks up, it calls your phone and connects you directly to the agent. So you're still in the same queue as everyone else, you just don't have to personally wait on hold. I was super skeptical too! But it actually works - the system calls and navigates all the prompts, then waits on hold so you don't have to sit there listening to the hold music for hours. When a real person answers, you get a call and are connected immediately to that agent.

0 coins

Sofía Rodríguez

•8M

Ok I need to eat my words from my skeptical comment earlier. I broke down and tried Claimyr today for a tax notice I've been stressing about. I was literally connected to an IRS agent in 18 minutes while I was playing with my dog at the park. All those hours I wasted on hold in previous years... I'm still mad thinking about it. The agent resolved my issue in like 10 minutes once I got through. Just passing this along since tax season is approaching and this literally saved me days of frustration.

0 coins

Aiden O'Connor

•8M

You should update them as soon as possible. The IRS doesn't care when in the year you got married - for tax purposes, if you're married on December 31st, you're considered married for the entire tax year. Updating now will help make sure you're on track for the remainder of 2024, and then you'll be all set for 2025. The new W-4 doesn't have the "married but withhold at higher rate" checkbox anymore, but there's a section for multiple jobs or working spouses where you can adjust things.

0 coins

Jamal Washington

•4M

The contribution limits are per person, but marriage can affect IRA eligibility and strategies. For example, if one spouse doesn't have earned income or earns very little, they can still contribute to an IRA based on the working spouse's income (spousal IRA). Also, the income limits for Roth IRA contributions and traditional IRA deductibility are based on your combined married filing jointly income, which might put you in a different bracket than when you were single. Some couples find they can do backdoor Roth conversions or other strategies they couldn't do before marriage.

0 coins