tax withholding adjustment

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
November 10, 2024
1 reply
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How do I figure the tax withholding adjustment when I have taxes withheld from my check and my spouse does not, nor has he paid any quarterly. Married filing separately

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xmasbaby0

Employee

If you will be filing married filing separately, the fact that your spouse has no tax withheld is your spouse's issue. Is your spouse self-employed? If so, your spouse might need to pay quarterly estimated tax, but if they have not done so, then they might face a penalty at tax time, depending on how much they earned. If they are self-employed, they are also going to be paying self-employment tax for Social Security and Medicare.

Unless you are in a community property state, your own MFS tax return is just going to have your own income and your own tax withholding entered.

Why are you asking about this? Provide some details.

**Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to offer the most correct information possible. The poster disclaims any legal responsibility for the accuracy of the information that is contained in this post.**

xmasbaby0

Employee

If you were legally married at the end of 2024 your filing choices are married filing jointly or married filing separately.

Married Filing Jointly is usually better, even if one spouse had little or no income. When you file a joint return, you and your spouse will get the married filing jointly standard deduction of $29,200 (+ $1550 for each spouse 65 or older) for 2024. You are eligible for more credits including education credits, earned income credit, child and dependent care credit, and a larger income limit to receive the child tax credit.

If you choose to file married filing separately, both spouses have to file the same way—either you both itemize or you both use standard deduction. Your tax rate will be higher than on a joint return.

Some of the special rules for filing separately include: you cannot get earned income credit, education credits, adoption credits, or deductions for student loan interest. A higher percent of your Social Security benefits may be taxable. Your limit for SALT (state and local taxes and sales tax) will be only $5000 per spouse. In many cases you will not be able to take the child and dependent care credit. The amount you can contribute to a retirement account will be affected. If you live in a community property state, you will be required to provide additional information regarding your spouse’s income. ( Community property states: AZ, CA, ID, LA, NV, NM, TX, WA, WI)

If you are using online TurboTax to prepare your returns, you will need to prepare two separate returns and pay twice since with online, you get one return per fee.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1894449-married-filing-jointly-vs-married-filing-separately

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1901162-married-filing-separately-in-community-property-states

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1894449-is-it-better-for-a-married-couple-to-file-jointly-or-separately