Can We File Jointly if Married Less Than a Year?
- To file a joint return, the IRS requires that you meet one of four tests as of the last day of the tax year for which you are filing. You must either be married and living together as a husband and wife, living together in a common law marriage recognized either by the state you live in currently or the state in which you began your common law marriage, married and living apart but not legally separated, or separated under a non-final decree of divorce. Even if you got married on December 31, you still qualify as married for the purposes of your tax return.
- If you meet any of the tests for the IRS to consider you married, you cannot file your tax return as single. Instead, if you do not wish to file a joint return, you can file as married filing separately. Using the married filing separately status requires you to use Form 1040 or Form 1040A rather than the short Form 1040EZ. In addition, using the married filing separately status disqualifies you from claiming various tax breaks such as the Lifetime Learning Credit or the American Opportunity Credit.
- When you file jointly, you reap the benefits of larger income tax brackets, and many deductions and credits have higher income limits. For example, the limits for the education tax breaks and the mortgage insurance premiums deduction double if you file a joint return vs. a single return. Similarly, using the 2010 tax brackets, a married couple filing a joint return would fall in the 15 percent tax bracket with $50,000 of income. If you file separately with that same amount of income, you fall in the 25 percent tax bracket.
- As of the time of publication, the federal government recognizes only legal unions between one male and one female as a marriage for the purposes of filing a joint federal tax return. Same-sex couples cannot file a joint return even if they are recognized by their state as a married couple and file their state tax return jointly.
