We know that everything dealing with your separation is important to you, because you want to know what you should and shouldn’t do. When you are faced with filing taxes while separated from your spouse, you will either file ‘married filing jointly’ or ‘married filing separately.’ You should know the benefits and losses of choosing either. If you are married filing separately, you will probably lose some tax benefits, but there are also some cons to filing jointly as well.
Weighing the Options
There are many considerations to be made. For instance, you may want to consider your tax brackets. For instance, if you file jointly, you and your spouse can remain in the 15% bracket and this has its own payoffs. You also want to consider who gets to claim the child as a dependent. Are you a parent who has the most custodial time with your child and you believe you will be able to receive the Child Tax Credit? It pays to investigate these possibilities because you could miss out on money that is owed to you if you don’t claim your children.
You also want to consider how alimony comes into play. If you have a written agreement in place over your alimony, and you are able to prove how much you receive in payments, your spouse may be able to deduct alimony from taxes. However, you and your spouse are not permitted to live together for this to be so, such as in cases of separation. A paying spouse should also be aware of the fact that they are not permitted to deduct child support payments with taxes.
As you can see, sometimes separations and taxes can be confusing times. It helps to talk to your attorney and your accountant about your options when you are going through a separation and want to know what will work best for you and your spouse to receive the most back in taxes. If you have questions, call us today at the Law Offices of Amy M. Montes at 714-731-8600 for more information.
