advice?

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-23-2005
advice?
6
Thu, 02-24-2005 - 3:27pm
does anyone know anything about the implications of filing separately vs. jointly when doing your taxes? i mean just general advice or experience of course, not legal help lol. my soon-to-be-ex wants to file jointly, saying he will lose a substantial refund and actually owe money if we file separately. however i am a student and already got screwed out of a year of financial assistance b/c my old taxes were filed jointly. however the divorce papers are supposed to be here in a few weeks, and if thats the case i would be willing to file jointly, since i would be legally divorced and i believe able to qualify for student loans, medical clinic, etc, based on my single income being very low. however i only want to do that if my divorce actually comes through, i dont want him pulling any last minute changes or have it denied for some reason. has anyone had a similar situation? i would appreciate any thoughts!
iVillage Member
Registered: 02-19-2004
Thu, 02-24-2005 - 3:34pm

I personally think it's best to file separately when you are about to be divorced. What you can do is fill your taxes as married-filing-seperately and see what you would each owe or get back, then figure it out filing jointly and see what you would owe or get back. Then if you decide to to file jointly because all together you get more money back, do it, but agree in advance who gets how much of the refund.

For example, if separately he would owe $100 and you would get back $900, that is a net $800 refund. If jointly you would get a $1,000 refund, then of course it makes sense to file jointly, but how will you split the money? Will you get $900 and he gets $100 (you are no better off than filing on your own) or will you get $1,000 and he gets nothing (you are both $100 better off, he didn't have to pay and you got $100 extra). Then you have to decide what address you use and who is getting the check. It's probably better for you to get the check and give him nothing or $50 or $100 than for him to get the check and have to hand it over to you (what is the point). In any case, if it were me I'd have whatever we agreed to put in writing and notarized, so there is no confusion down the road - or just file separately and not worry about the extra money to avoid the headache (if you feel there is a risk you would file together, he gets the $1,000 check and keeps all of it).

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iVillage Member
Registered: 12-29-2004
Thu, 02-24-2005 - 3:49pm
DO NOT file jointly!!! I filed seperately this year and got a substantial amount of money back!!! Let him pay, you don't have to, OK!!!!
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iVillage Member
Registered: 02-19-2004
Thu, 02-24-2005 - 7:02pm

>>>hhh, the mantra of the modern woman. Let him pay - don't be responsible for anything. Beautiful..<<<

I took what she meant is that the OP doesn't have to file jointly just because her almost-ex will otherwise owe on his taxes. They are almost divorced, each person's tax burden should be their own responsiblity - or at a minimum, the OP should feel like she *has* to file jointly. In fact, is there any reason in your opinion that the OP *should* be responsible for her STBX's tax liability?

If you want to say that because the divorce is not final, there is an argument for filing jointly, or that filing jointly to help her STBX out would be nice, or offer any other point of view - that's fine - but please remember this is a support board. If you think a certain post is anti-male, you aren't going to get anywhere by posting an anti-female response.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 09-03-2004
Thu, 02-24-2005 - 8:25pm

I plan to listen to my tax person and file seperately.

I was/am self employed more than half of the year and paid my own estimated taxes. We (me and my CPA) overestimated on purpose so as to provide a cushion once the divorce was settled. That way if I owed any taxes on monies that had to be liquidated for the settlement I wouldn't be hit as hard. Also my xh had a reputation of not having enough taken out of his check. Once "we" had to pay back over 4,000.00 for his stupidity!

There is no way I'm going to absorb his tax mistakes from now on. He wanted to file jointly but I knew he has made even more stupid mistakes with his investments in order to pay the divorce settlement and I refuse to "pay" twice if you get my drift.

I agree with the other posts - try it both ways and take the better deal. As for who gets the check - well I wouldn't trust my xh with it! Maybe you could have it sent to a neutral party - or automatically deposited in an account that requires both signatures.

e

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-23-2005
Fri, 02-25-2005 - 3:17pm
lol i think a couple of the posts confused me... i dont want to be mean to him or anything, i just dont want to be denied student loans again because he makes a very good salary, and since last year i had filed jointly i was not eligible for any financial assistance, even though i did not receive any of his earnings. i would rather he be able to get the refund, there is no sense in him having to pay money in taxes if its not necessary. theres really no anger between us, i just dont want to put myself in a bad financial situation by filing jointly. im not sure if that clears it up....
iVillage Member
Registered: 02-23-2005
Fri, 02-25-2005 - 3:24pm
thank you illenie i like the idea of a third party handling the check, i assume his tax person would be able to do this!