[masraum]

Originally Posted by BK911

Thanks guys.

Reason I asked about jointly/separately is because mommy works part time and does not make that much, and no taxes are deducted from her paycheck. I told her it will all balance out at the end of the year so no biggie, but our refund will be less.

Then I thought about filing separately. I get taxed on my income, and she on hers. She makes so little that she probably won't owe anything. But if it gets added to my income, then I will have to pay her share of taxes. Plus it is really close to pushing me into the next tax bracket.

Guess it all evens out in the wash. I will try both ways and see what happens.

Assuming that you guys are married and have been filing as married, I don't think it's going to work like that. Good luck.

I'm the primary earner. At one point my wife was a PhD candidate and getting a modest stipend. That radically changed our taxes. I don't remember the specifics, but I used TurboTax to check both married-jointly and married-separately, and what I seem to remember is the main difference was more paperwork, but it didn't change the bottom line.