Preface: “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” – Genesis 2:24
Income Tax for Married People
Your marital status has a profound effect on how the government taxes you. If you have recently gotten married or ended your marriage or have become widowed, it is to your benefit to understand the changes this has on your tax situation.
This post addresses tax considerations specific to people who are married. Being married not only means different tax treatment than being unmarried, it also means it is greatly to your advantage to coordinate your tax planning with your spouse. This is true even if you were married only recently and even if you are filing separate tax returns.
Choosing the Right Filing Status
In the United States, how you are treated for income tax purposes is greatly affected by the filing status you choose on your tax return. As of 2025, there are five possible filing statuses:
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- Single
- Married filing jointly
- Married filing separately
- Head of household
- Qualifying surviving spouse
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Your choice of filing status determines your standard deduction, your tax rates, and what other deductions and credits you are eligible for. Before you select your status, you should make sure that you meet its requirements.
Married people must in general choose either the “married filing jointly” or “married filing separately” status. Married people who have not finalized all legal proceedings to terminate their marriage by the end of the year cannot choose “single” filing status for that year.
If you were married at any point during the year and have not finalized the ending of your marriage before midnight December 31, you are considered to have been married for tax purposes for that year. Even if your final end of marriage papers go through in the wee hours before sunrise of January 1, you are still married for tax purposes for the year just ended. However, if the end of the marriage is finalized at 11:59PM on December 31, you are considered unmarried for that year.
Death of a spouse is treated very differently than the willful termination of a marriage between living people. If your spouse died at any time in the year, even on January 1, for tax purposes you are still considered married for that year and can file jointly with your spouse who passed away that year. If you remarry before the end of the year, you can file jointly with your new spouse.
You may only file one tax return per year and you must choose only one filing status per year. If you are widowed or have chosen to end your marriage and you then remarry in the same year, you cannot file both with your old spouse and your new spouse.
In some cases, a married person may be able to claim “head of household” filing status. To do this, you must first be able to claim a child you provided for as a dependent. In addition you must either:
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- Be legally separated from your spouse according to the laws of your state. Pennsylvania residents, please be aware that there is no legal separation status in Pennsylvania. Or,
- Not have lived with your spouse at any time during the last six months of the year.
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Claiming Dependents While Married
You do not have to be married to claim a qualifying child or qualifying relative as a dependent. If you are married, you cannot claim your spouse as a dependent. The tax break you get for being married is being able to choose the “married filing jointly” filing status which has a higher standard deduction and lower tax rates. But your spouse is not your dependent on a joint return. This is true even if you had much more income than your spouse or if your spouse had no income at all.
If you are married and filing jointly, any dependent that you or spouse could claim separately can be claimed on your joint return.
If you file separately and there are dependents you and your spouse could both claim, you must decide which one of you is claiming which dependent. If you both try to claim the same dependent in the same year, the IRS will launch an investigation to see who gets the credit and your refund will be delayed until they have made their determination.
Jointly vs. Separately, Which Is Better?
Most married people are better off filing jointly in most years. Married couples who file separately usually do so for personal rather than financial reasons.
If you file jointly, you must include all income earned by both spouses on the joint return.
If you file separately, you need report only your own income. This means that you and your spouse will not need to share financial information, which some people consider an advantage. However, it is still advisable to coordinate your tax position with your spouse.
Note that if one spouse chooses to itemize deductions, the IRS will not allow either spouse to take the standard deduction. So if you are filing separately, it is advisable to ask if your spouse is itemizing.
As already mentioned, the same dependent cannot be claimed on more than one return. So if you are filing separately and claiming dependents, make sure your spouse is not claiming any of the same dependents you are.
Once you file a joint return, neither spouse can file a separate return for that year.
However, this will not affect your filings for future years. For as long as you are married, you may choose to file jointly or separately for any given year regardless of how you filed previous years.
Most state income tax returns offer a choice between joint and separate filing status similar to that on the federal return. Your choice on your state return need not match the choice you make on your federal return.
There are four major disadvantages to filing separately:
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- If you are hiring someone to prepare your tax returns for you, you will pay double or close to double in preparation fees since you are paying for two separate filings. Note that the filing threshold for separate filers is $5. Yes, that’s five dollars, which is a much lower threshold than for single filers. This means that if one spouse is filing separately, the other spouse is required to file even with only $5 of income.
- You will be subject to higher income tax rates. For 2025, joint filers will jump from the 12% to 22% tax bracket at $96,950 of combined taxable income. For separate filers, this cutoff will be at $48,475, the same as for single filers.
- You will take a lower standard deduction. For 2024, the standard deduction for joint filers is $31,500. For separate filers it is $15,750, the same as for single filers.
- You and your spouse will automatically be ineligible for a number of deductions and credits including earned income credit, tuition credit, child and dependent care credit, adoption credit, and the student loan interest deduction. It is also likely that more of your social security benefit will be subject to taxation. And a non-working or low-earning spouse may no longer be able to contribute the full amount to an IRA.
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Devising scenarios where there is a clear tax advantage to filing separately is something of an academic exercise for accountants. Here are a few possible financial advantages to filing separately:
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- If both spouses are itemizing deductions and one spouse has low income and high medical expenses and the other spouse has high income and low medical expenses, then the spouse with the low income and high medical expenses will be able to take a bigger medical deduction filing separately. This is because deductible medical expenses are limited to the amount over 7.5% of adjusted gross income reported on the return.
- For relatively high earners who are just above the phaseout threshold for certain credits and deductions that are not prohibited to separate filers, they may still be able to claim them by filing separately. For instance, the child tax credit begins to phase out at $400,000 for joint filers but only $200,000 for separate filers. Imagine a couple where one spouse earned just over $300,000 and the other earned just over $100,000. If they file jointly, their credit is limited. If they file separately, the lower-earning spouse can still claim the full credit.
- If both spouses are very high earners, filing separately may allow them a lower rate of income tax. For example, at 2025 rates, spouses with taxable income of $600,000 each will be in the 35% bracket filing separately but in the 37% bracket filing jointly. Earners in the very highest brackets are phased out of most credits and deductions anyway and likely are not taking the standard deduction and in general the disadvantages of filing separately will mean less to them.
- Consider also that in some cases filing separately may help you qualify for non-tax-related services or products such as financial aid or loans. Any third party that uses your tax return to determine if you are eligible will not be able to see your spouse’s income if you filed separately.
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Injured Spouse Allocation of Refund
One consideration that should not be a reason to file separately is a fear that if you file jointly your refund will be taken away to pay your spouse’s debts. You can claim your share of any refund by filing Form 8379: Injured Spouse Allocation. This form is almost like a separate filing in miniature that allows you to compute and claim your share of the refund, but without losing access to any of the credits or deductions that would be disallowed if you actually filed separately. Form 8379 may be included with your joint return or filed up to three years later to request your portion of a refund that has been withheld to pay off debts due to your spouse.
Innocent Spouse Relief
If you filed a joint return and are later subject to additional taxes and penalties because your spouse intentionally misstated income, you may request a waiver from your portion of these additional taxes and penalties by filing Form 8857: Request for Innocent Spouse Relief.