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how should i file?

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radiantquest

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the majority of the year i had my maiden name, but got married in september. my name is changed now. should i file single or married? maiden name or married name?
 
I am guessing you mean tax-wise?

You need to file your taxes according to whatever the name is on your social security card.

As for married or married but filing separately, it is my understanding that you can choose whatever works best for you, but you need to be consistent moving forward. IE my accountant told me that it was best if we filed as married because there is a significant difference between our incomes - so the lower salaried person helps keep the other in a lower bracket. He also told me that if I filed as married this year I can''t filed as married but filing separately next year. (Not sure if that is true - wait for an expert.)
 
At the end of the year you were married. I''d file married, with your new married name.


And, Congratulations!
35.gif
 
Date: 1/22/2009 10:22:05 PM
Author: Fly Girl
At the end of the year you were married. I''d file married, with your new married name.



And, Congratulations!
35.gif

Yup, as long as your SS card has been changed to reflect your new name this is what you would do. I did the same thing a year ago.
 
thanks everybody, i wasnt sure.
 
We went through this last year and our accountant told us that we could still file as single since we were not married the entire previous year. Apparently you don''t have to file married (filing jointly or separately) until you''ve been married the whole year. We were going to file as single if it made the most financial sense, but for us it didn''t and filing married (joint) was easiest. The accountant also told us that filing married but separate was the least advantageous financially (I don''t remember why).
 
Date: 1/23/2009 5:39:16 PM
Author: NewEnglandLady
We went through this last year and our accountant told us that we could still file as single since we were not married the entire previous year. Apparently you don''t have to file married (filing jointly or separately) until you''ve been married the whole year. We were going to file as single if it made the most financial sense, but for us it didn''t and filing married (joint) was easiest. The accountant also told us that filing married but separate was the least advantageous financially (I don''t remember why).
Very interesting. We were thinking of filing separately since I''m in school.
 
radiantquest,
How you file will likely have financial and legal consequences. I''d strongly urge you to consult an accountant. The regulations pursuant to the tax code sections are long, complicated and sometimes ambiguous.
 
radiantquest,
I am in the same situation as you, and was also wondering the best thing to do. DH and I both work. We were planning on filing separately this year, then jointly from then on. Didn''t realize we could still file as single for this year since we weren''t married the whole year. Does anyone know what would be best? Single, married filing separately, or married filing jointly? We could ask a professional, but we typically just use TurboTax as our situation is pretty simple: no kids or other dependants, no property sales, etc.

Sorry if this is a threadjack- but I think we''re wondering the same thing....
 
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