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Politics : A US National Health Care System? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TimF who wrote (36446)	5/3/2014 3:57:44 PM
From: i-node	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42652

>> While a majority of married couples might do better filing jointly then they would do filing separately as unmarried individuals that isn't always the case. Spouses can still file separately but the law doesn't treat the separate returns the same way it treats returns from non-married individuals, and some couples will pay less tax if they don't get married then if they do. It is a very rare occasion when filing separately makes sense. If a couple is headed toward divorce I would generally suggest they think twice about a joint return, spouses are jointly and severally liable for any balance due or subsequent deficiency. Also, if one spouse has extremely high medical expenses, it may be that no deduction would be available because of the combined income level, while some deduction would be available when filing separately. But the rate differential makes it a steep climb. When I was in tax practice most years I wouldn't see even one client who stood to benefit from filing separately, though we always checked it. States are different, though -- in our state it is common for spouses to be better off filing separately for state purposes, even though they don't for federal.