file MFJ since the event occurred during the 2022 tax year

Your filing status is as of Dec 31, 2022. Thus you either filing married filing jointly or married filing separately. In most cases but not all jointly results in lower taxes.

Do both and file the one that saves you the most.

You have to file as married if you're married on the last day of the year. You can't file as single, you can file as married filing separately but it probably leads to more tax.

That’s not true. Married filing separately you get the exact same tax credits just divided by two. Things like tax credits for dependents, you need to choose on who’s tax return it makes the most sense to put it on.

No. OP only has 2 legal options:

• Married Filing Jointly

• Married Filing Separately

They cannot... I repeat cannot... file as Single.

Married. Filing Jointly will likely result in the best outcome.

There are exceptions to this, but they are unusual. (Google: Why file married separately and you'll get loads of sources citing when)

I was thinking OP meant should they file married joint or married separate. Not single.

I was suggesting to do both married joint and separate and choose the one that saves them the most.

I guess I misread the question.

Your tax brackets are wildly different if you file jointly.

We calculate it both ways, i.e. Married Filing Separately and Married Filing Jointly, and pick which is more favorable. After a few times through this, we determined the headache wasn't worth the slight difference in taxes and just file jointly.

There are differences in certain situations.

If you file separately there are a few credits you cannot claim like the earned income tax credit, child and dependent care credit, and some education related credits. So if you would get those credits filing jointly is generally better than separately.

Also to claim medical expenses you need them to be more than 7.5% of agi. If one person has a bunch of medical expenses it might be more than 7.5% of their agi but not of the joint AGI. In that situation jointly might be better.

There are a ton of edge cases where one or the other is better. In most cases it should be the same or very close to the same, but sometimes there are large differences.

MFS will phase you out of several things completely. Notably Roth IRA income limits are very harsh for MFS. It is almost never a better option.

It’s illegal to file single if you were married during any part of the year

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That one is particularly fucked up! What else does it phase you out of? I’ve reviewed for my personal case and found absolutely no difference. We both have small businesses as LLCs so it is cleaner to file separately, and had no loss in tax implications.

Important caveat: if you are on income-based student loan repayments and your income will be higher combined, you might consider filing separately.

This comes as a surprise to a lot. In some cases, such as the Revised Pay As You Earn (REPAYE) payment plan, it doesn’t matter if you file separately or jointly, they still add up all household income.

Yup... my husband had to sign my forms and he's not even from the US!

Also married last year, yes you are qualified to file jointly, as it goes by your status as of December 31st 2022. You were married by then so your marital status should be listed as married whether you file jointly or not. You can file jointly or separately but your marital status must be listed as ‘married’.

Same. I am required to go through and sign my husband’s forms and he has to report our household income. The real PIA is that they don’t take into account the child and her childcare.

Same! Or HCOL

This is the answer. Stop scrolling. OP CAN'T file as single, not eligible.

Student Loan Repayment Plans definitely overdue for reform. Not the topic of this thread, just that folks need to read all the microscopic print carefully with them.

Right it may make sense for OP to file "married filing separately," but the option is that or "married filing jointly." Do the math, just don't try and do "Single" unless want Uncle Sammy pounding your ass with his IRS boots

Do you have to change anything on your W2 form if you want to file jointly? We’ve been filing as “married, filing separately” for the past 2 years, but would like to file jointly if we can? Or do we need to wait til next year and update our W2 now?