Tax Question

[Hutton]

I wasn't sure where to ask this question, so I was hoping perhaps someone here is a tax guru or has gone through a similar situation.

THE STORY:

My fiance & I are planning on getting married at the end of this year sometime. She has a 2 year old daughter that she claims on her income taxes, but only will have earned $15,000-20,000 for the 2010 year. This means she qualifies for all sorts of breaks from the government because she will have earned so little, but supports a dependent.

I was divorced in early 2010, but had been separated for awhile yet still filed 2009 taxes as Married Jointly with my now ex-wife. I do not get to claim my daughter for 2010 tax purposes. The 2010 tax year would be my first as filling single. Normally, with very little income from my ex-wife (approximately $15,000/year) I would get roughly $5,000 back on my taxes (total, state & federal). This year I am afraid that I will get back significantly less, or even owe money because of losing my child credit & also filing single. Perhaps this isn't the case, I don't know really....maybe lowing the total income will make-up for the loss of the child credit. And I've assumed full financial responsibility on paying my mortgage, which gives me almost $10,000 of loan interest to report on my taxes,

Long story short, would it be more advantageous for my fiance & I to get married in calendar year 2010 & file 2010 taxes as married jointly or would it be better to wait until 2011 to get married & both of us file single separately for 2010?

We really don't care about when we get married, we're either thinking about a New Year's Eve or New Year's Day wedding, and would schedule it around whatever would be better for us tax wise.

I don't know if there's a simple way to answer this question or if more factors go into it that I am aware of. I really only have experience with filling my own taxes (using TurboTax) as married jointly, I am completely unaware of tax laws for single people.

Any help/advise if greatly appreciated.

Cheers!

[Gotmadskillzson]

Re: Tax Question

If you single, no dependents and make less then $25,000 a year you will at least get back no less then $1,200. But ummm if you paying child support then yeah you still can claim your daughter regardless if she living with you or not, if she is your biological daughter.

[Hutton]

Re: Tax Question

If you single, no dependents and make less then $25,000 a year you will at least get back no less then $1,200. But ummm if you paying child support then yeah you still can claim your daughter regardless if she living with you or not, if she is your biological daughter.

Well I make far more than $25,000 per year, so that's out.

And no, I can't claim my daughter, in my divorce agreement we alternate years for claiming her as a dependent, & I have odd years. This is inspite of paying a enormous amount of child support ($800/month, not tax deductible). Only one person is allowed to claim a child as a dependent.

[Burns11]

Re: Tax Question

Instead of guessing which might be more advantageous, make out a series of tax forms on like turbotax, use numbers you figure for 2010 on the 2009 tax forms and see what shakes out.

[MassNole]

Re: Tax Question

Well it depends what his Divorce agreement/judgment says regarding claiming children for taxes. If she doesn't make a lot and doesn't qualify for the Earned Income Credit then you may be able to claim her regardless of year.

[Gotmadskillzson]

Re: Tax Question

Well then yeah your return is going to take a huge hit then. I doubt you will owe though, you might see something like $300 back.

[Hutton]

Re: Tax Question

Instead of guessing which might be more advantageous, make out a series of tax forms on like turbotax, use numbers you figure for 2010 on the 2009 tax forms and see what shakes out.

Yeah, that's my next step, but I thought if there's just a general idea from someone who knows Tax law it might save me some time entering all the figures.

I'll just plug the **** it & see. What I'm scared of is the fact that I've never changed my dependents at work, so I still get paid based on claiming my daughter & married on my I9 or W2 (where ever that info comes from). If I were married (again lol) in 2010 then that would be a moot point, even if I spent the majority of the year unmarried (divorced in January, remarried in December...but eff the IRS).

I think where it really matters is on my fiance, since she makes so little money & gets all sorts of tax relief. But if she were married in 2010 then those tax breaks would be out the window. Even earning only $20,000 in a year she will get back $4-5k.

[ImTellinTim]

Re: Tax Question

Generally speaking, it is an advantage to file married jointly. What is she claiming for paycheck purposes? If she anticipates getting all this money back every year, why doesn't she do something like claim 9 dependents so that she can pocket that money throughout the year?

From the looks of it, if you file single without dependents, you will be paying in based on what you claim on your paycheck (that form is called the W-4, btw in case you want to contact your payroll department to change it).

[NDAlum]

Re: Tax Question

$800/month?

So you give 800*12=9600*1.28=~12,500 in child support

Yikes!

[Hutton]

Re: Tax Question

$800/month?

So you give 800*12=9600*1.28=~12,500 in child support

Yikes!

Yep, I pay $9,600 a year for my daughter. And to top that off, my idiot ex-wife wants me to contribute extra towards a college fund.

I told her to go to hell, that she'll have to make the $124,800 I pay for her (until she's 18 years old, she's almost 5 now) for the next 13 years somehow work for college too....

The moral of the story is don't get divorced from some b!tch who you have a daughter with.