You may have fond memories of your wedding night: The outpouring of support from family and friends, the presents, the week in that tropical paradise. But now it's time to file your taxes as a married couple for the first time.
It's not nearly as much fun as doing the Macarena or shoving wedding cake in your partner's face, but careful preparation can help ease the pain of tax time.
A column in Kiplinger's Personal Finance covers some general information about filing as a married couple for the first time. The columnist, Kimberly Lankford, answers a question sent by a reader who was married on Dec. 16. Since she was single for all but 15 days of the year, she wants to know if she should file separately.
Ms. Lankford informs her that the Internal Revenue Service considers a person married for the entire year, at least for tax purposes, even if it is just one day. The same is true for someone who was divorced in final days of the year, but divorce attorneys in Chicago would be better informed about divorce-specific tax issues.
But even if you are considered married in the eyes of the IRS, you still have the option to mark you status as "married filing separately." Ms. Lankford cautions that doing so can have the effect of forfeiting many of the tax breaks extended to joint filers, such as eligibility for a tax-deferred Roth IRA or a lifetime learning credit.
When is it advantageous for a married person to file separately? Ms. Lankford says it may make sense if one of the partners incurred high medical expenses and had low income for the year:
In that case, filing separately may make it easier to pass the 7.5% adjusted gross income threshold for deducting unreimbursed medical expenses.
There is much more involved in preparing a tax return than can be covered in this blog. Kiplinger's offers a section on its web site that covers some of the finer points of filing taxes as a married couple not covered by Ms. Lankford's column.
Related Resources:
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Taxes and Marriage (FindLaw)
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2010 Taxes (FindLaw)
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Browse Chicago Family Law Attorneys (FindLaw)
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