Got married last year but want Husband wants me to continue to file as single HOH.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I got married in late November and when I filed taxes for that year, was majorly penalized. At least $25k I owed. Looking back I wish I just said I was still single. I don’t know how they would have ever figured it out. They typically aren’t auditing single 27 year olds earning $160k. Because if I’d known it would be an extra $25k in taxes, I would have asked the minister/courthouse to make the marriage official January 1.

Why get married at all

So I should never get married since I wanted to wait 15 days to make it official to save $25k in taxes?!

Yes, unless you think it’s not worth it for $25k.
You could still get married in November but wait until January to move together.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Think about this logically for a second, OP. Is he also filing as single head of household? So you’re both claiming to be single when you’re not, and you’re both claiming to be the heads of households (which basically means single mom or single dad) when in fact you have a married family unit, raising children together. And you’re going to pay less taxes because of your lies. That’s fraud, and people go to jail for it if they are caught. Did you watch the Real Housewives of New Jersey? You might get a book deal after you get out though.

OP didn’t say if their kids were shared, or if they live together. There is a perfectly legal way for OP to file as HOH, provided OP is meeting the test (as posted earlier, which was taken directly from the IRS website.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Think about this logically for a second, OP. Is he also filing as single head of household? So you’re both claiming to be single when you’re not, and you’re both claiming to be the heads of households (which basically means single mom or single dad) when in fact you have a married family unit, raising children together. And you’re going to pay less taxes because of your lies. That’s fraud, and people go to jail for it if they are caught. Did you watch the Real Housewives of New Jersey? You might get a book deal after you get out though.

OP didn’t say if their kids were shared, or if they live together. There is a perfectly legal way for OP to file as HOH, provided OP is meeting the test (as posted earlier, which was taken directly from the IRS website.)

We are living together and the kids are shared.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You cannot file as single HOH if you are legally married. This applies to all couples, including same-sex.

How would they know I am married? I did not change my name or address.

1) they could audit you

2) they have both your social security numbers and could find out if there is anything else you own jointly, which in itself would start at least a letter from the IRS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You cannot file as single HOH if you are legally married. This applies to all couples, including same-sex.

How would they know I am married? I did not change my name or address.

State mariage registries, Church registries that report to the state. Usually, when you get married you have to get a state license before any other type of marriage. And social security records. Your DH is playing a scam on you or the state and fed authorities.

Joint bank accounts with social security numbers, any type of loans including credit cards, state vehicle registrations - anything where you might have put down both social secuirty numbers.

[Anonymous]

I am annoyed every year that I can't be the Head of Household. I'm pissed that my friends who live with their fiances can claim that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You cannot file as single HOH if you are legally married. This applies to all couples, including same-sex.

How would they know I am married? I did not change my name or address.

State mariage registries, Church registries that report to the state. Usually, when you get married you have to get a state license before any other type of marriage. And social security records. Your DH is playing a scam on you or the state and fed authorities.

Joint bank accounts with social security numbers, any type of loans including credit cards, state vehicle registrations - anything where you might have put down both social secuirty numbers.

Plenty of people have joint bank accounts and even credit cards and aren’t married. Not sure how a state vehicle registration would indicate you’re married and even if so, why the IRS would be receiving information on vehicles.

Sorry but the IRS truly isn’t keeping track of who is married and who isn’t. They can’t even hire enough people to audit high earners.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You cannot file as single HOH if you are legally married. This applies to all couples, including same-sex.

How would they know I am married? I did not change my name or address.

1) they could audit you

2) they have both your social security numbers and could find out if there is anything else you own jointly, which in itself would start at least a letter from the IRS

She’s talking about ONE year.

Sure if you go your entire life not filing as married, then it could be a problem. But not filing as married until next year? People can’t even receive their refunds on time. The chance the IRS finds out that you got married in say, July and didn’t file as married is almost 0. If you get caught just tell them you thought you didn’t file as married until the next calendar year.

Do you also believe there is a gift tax???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You cannot file as single HOH if you are legally married. This applies to all couples, including same-sex.

How would they know I am married? I did not change my name or address.

1) they could audit you

2) they have both your social security numbers and could find out if there is anything else you own jointly, which in itself would start at least a letter from the IRS

Oh the horror! All that happens from an audit is they find out if your taxes are accurate. If not, you pay a penalty and interest. The chances OP is audited is very low unless she has a high home office deduction and/or is a high earner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Think about this logically for a second, OP. Is he also filing as single head of household? So you’re both claiming to be single when you’re not, and you’re both claiming to be the heads of households (which basically means single mom or single dad) when in fact you have a married family unit, raising children together. And you’re going to pay less taxes because of your lies. That’s fraud, and people go to jail for it if they are caught. Did you watch the Real Housewives of New Jersey? You might get a book deal after you get out though.

OP didn’t say if their kids were shared, or if they live together. There is a perfectly legal way for OP to file as HOH, provided OP is meeting the test (as posted earlier, which was taken directly from the IRS website.)

We are living together and the kids are shared.

Then filing as HOH would be tax fraud. Do with that what your moral compass tells you to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You cannot file as single HOH if you are legally married. This applies to all couples, including same-sex.

Not true. If you live apart for most of the year and your kids mostly live with you, you are fine. It was our situation before our divorce was finalized and TT has an option for it.

OP, if you and H put different addresses on your tax declarations, then yes you can continue. Answer the TT questions like this: are you married? Yes. Does he live with you? No. Do your kids live with you? Yes. It’s not exactly honorable but the chances they will find out are pretty slim. It might look strange if you always put not married and then you are suddenly married but not living together, but I think they don’t really care.
I have a hunch a lot of poor folks do that

Why do you think they “don’t really care”? I would not try to cheat the system, OP. It never really works out well.

Because they are overwhelmed and have bigger fish to fry
Because I know some lower earners who do that and they haven’t been audited
Not saying OP should do it but it’s possible

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I got married in late November and when I filed taxes for that year, was majorly penalized. At least $25k I owed. Looking back I wish I just said I was still single. I don’t know how they would have ever figured it out. They typically aren’t auditing single 27 year olds earning $160k. Because if I’d known it would be an extra $25k in taxes, I would have asked the minister/courthouse to make the marriage official January 1.

Why get married at all

So I should never get married since I wanted to wait 15 days to make it official to save $25k in taxes?!

You will pay more next year as well - marriage penalty
Btw if you filed HoH and he lived with you - I am afraid you already broke the rules (not sure, maybe if you paid 50% or more in home costs it’s ok?)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am annoyed every year that I can't be the Head of Household. I'm pissed that my friends who live with their fiances can claim that.

1) they lie that their fiancées don’t live with them
2) you can lie and say your H doesn’t live with you (he would need to put a new address on his taxes though). But your H might have to pay more as a result so you need to compare

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You cannot file as single HOH if you are legally married. This applies to all couples, including same-sex.

How would they know I am married? I did not change my name or address.

1) they could audit you

2) they have both your social security numbers and could find out if there is anything else you own jointly, which in itself would start at least a letter from the IRS

Oh the horror! All that happens from an audit is they find out if your taxes are accurate. If not, you pay a penalty and interest. The chances OP is audited is very low unless she has a high home office deduction and/or is a high earner.

Yep, they might only want to check if 1) her new H lives separately indeed 2) if she is indeed paying at least half of her household expenses

[Anonymous]

This is a stupid discussion. OP is legally required to file as being married. The likelihood of getting audited is immaterial.