Married Filing Separately
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Enter on the Filing Status screen.
If you are married and file a separate return, you will usually pay more tax than if you use another filing status that you qualify for.
Also, if you file a separate return, you cannot take the student loan interest deduction or the education credits, and you'll only be able to take the Earned Income Credit and Child Care Credit in very limited circumstances. You also can't take the standard deduction if your spouse itemizes deductions.
It's rare for Married Filing Separately to give you more refund than married filing jointly. However, if you itemize your deductions and one spouse has a large amount of medical expenses or casualty losses, you may get more overall refund by filing separate returns.
When someone chooses to file a separate return it is usually because of reasons other than getting the largest refund such as if one spouse may be cheating on their taxes and the other spouse doesn't want to be responsible for any tax problems the other spouse will have if he or she is audited.
Enter on the Filing Status screen.
If you are married and file a separate return, you will usually pay more tax than if you use another filing status that you qualify for.
Also, if you file a separate return, you cannot take the student loan interest deduction or the education credits, and you'll only be able to take the Earned Income Credit and Child Care Credit in very limited circumstances. You also can't take the standard deduction if your spouse itemizes deductions.
It's rare for Married Filing Separately to give you more refund than married filing jointly. However, if you itemize your deductions and one spouse has a large amount of medical expenses or casualty losses, you may get more overall refund by filing separate returns.
When someone chooses to file a separate return it is usually because of reasons other than getting the largest refund such as if one spouse may be cheating on their taxes and the other spouse doesn't want to be responsible for any tax problems the other spouse will have if he or she is audited.
