A note on marriages and tax season

Dear reader of this blog post,

Greetings! My name is Timothy Lark. I am a Certified Public Accountant and author of this blog.

I know that in these eight months of down time plenty of people decide that they're going to tie that happy knot and become married in eternal bliss in the eyes of God. I'm here to let you know that if you do that your taxes will become much more difficult, so let's think twice before you betroth yourself to that individual.

But its not all bad! In many cases married couples receive tax benefits after they tie the knot. Essentially, as a couple, you are qualified as a single person in the government's eyes (sorry ladies, but it seems ol' Uncle Sam hasn't recognized your civil rights movement and thinks the man is the only one who should be the bread winner, haha).

However, if you both make a considerable amount of income, or one of you makes far more than the other, its often much better to file "married filing separately" status. And this can be a headache, and really cost you money in the long run. I often recommend to couples who have consistently filed "married filing separately" to get a divorce, as its a much better financial decision. Strangely though, it seems in most cases a marriage/divorce decision isn't settled because of tax matters.

In any case, I'm here to remind you that before you get that knot tied you better think about the consequences. Its not all fun and love, its also a higher tax liability. :)

Sincerely,

Timothy Lark, CPA