African American Weddings

Paging all Accountants

I am going to publically ask my question because I'm sure someone else will have the same question.

Before I go through all of the name change thing I am looking forward to my taxes. My FI and I currently live together, but I claim head of household because my children are not his. When we get married can I still claim head of househild if we file separtely? 

The reason I ask  is because all of my childrens' tuition expenses/ finacial aid is based on my income. I'm already stretching it being able to qualify for aid so I know if we file jointly the aid is out of the window. I don't want to do a name change, file head of household and trigger an audit. Thanks Accountant knotties for your free informtion LOL.
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Re: Paging all Accountants

  • Good question cant wait for the asnwer
  • Hey Girlie, my hubby actually works for the IRS so I emailed him your question...this is what he said HTH


    If you're married you only have two options to file which are married filing jointly or married filing seperately, It doesn't matter if you legally have the same name or not. All that matters is if you are legally married. So if you're married and going to file seperately according to the tax law you should be fling married filing separately. Not Head of household. Plenty of married couples with the same name or not file seperately and do head of household. About 50% are audited. By being married and filing head of household, this signals one trigger on your return, this alone won't necessarily trigger an audit unless your return has other triggers as well. But keep in mind if you do get audited and the IRS finds out you are married they will change your filing status for both you and your spouse and depending on the amount of tax owed they are at liberty to issue up to a 30% penalty depending on the mood of your examiner. Also keep in mind how “truthful” you were on your prior years returns before making your decision. If audited they will look at the last 3 years as well.    

     

  • Thanks MsAmeera25!

    I learn something new everyday.
    Wedding date July 7, 2012
  • 20pearls1620pearls16 member
    First Anniversary 5 Love Its First Comment
    edited June 2012
    Thanks Princess. I don't want to mess with 50% odds. Who says the IRS isn't helpful. LOL
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  • PS he said the only exception to filing Head of household is if you are legally separated AND your husband did not reside in the same house as you for 9 months out of the year.

     

  • Which for you still wouldn't help...

     

  • M1ssJM1ssJ member
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    Dang that is a gooood response!
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  • edited June 2012
    ameera, piggyback follow up for the hardheards (me) please?

    whatever your filing status (joint or separate) you can only claim head of household if you're legally single (<--- question not statement).

    less complicated question - whycome your nickname is princess? Laughing
  • In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/cultural-wedding-boards_african-american-weddings_paging-all-accountants?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Cultural Wedding BoardsForum:400Discussion:1f4cf321-ec2e-414b-9eec-e74b3870dd30Post:b8e0abc1-4b61-4b74-9ecc-f7fdf1826103">Re: Paging all Accountants</a>:
    [QUOTE]ameera, piggyback follow up for the hardheards (me) please? whatever your filing status (joint or separate) you can only claim head of household if you're legally single (<--- question not statement). less complicated question - whycome your nickname is princess?
    Posted by sultryzulu[/QUOTE]

    He said head of Household is only for single ppl who have a dependent (child, parents). Not just single. Or the married exception above, legally seperated and husband is not living in the same house.

    My real name is actually Princess. My nickname that my friends call me is Ameera it means Princess in Arabic.

     

  • In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/cultural-wedding-boards_african-american-weddings_paging-all-accountants?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Cultural Wedding BoardsForum:400Discussion:1f4cf321-ec2e-414b-9eec-e74b3870dd30Post:a42ddde3-b3a6-49ca-9b17-1c96d22d1215">Re: Paging all Accountants</a>:
    [QUOTE]In Response to Re: Paging all Accountants : He said head of Household is only for single ppl who have a dependent (child, parents). Not just single. Or the married exception above, legally seperated and husband is not living in the same house. My real name is actually Princess. My nickname that my friends call me is Ameera it means Princess in Arabic.
    Posted by MsAmeera25[/QUOTE]

    oh my days, that's beautiful!!  and fitting <img src="http://cdn.cl9.vanillaforums.com/downloaded/ver1.0/content/scripts/tinymce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-tongue-out.gif" border="0" alt="Tongue out" title="Tongue out" />  

    thanks for the elaboration and B thanks for posting the question, i'dve gotten waaaaay into trouble trying to be a *boss* lol.

    //endjack
  • MrsSmith2Be02MrsSmith2Be02 member
    First Comment
    edited June 2012
    In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/cultural-wedding-boards_african-american-weddings_paging-all-accountants?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Cultural%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:400Discussion:1f4cf321-ec2e-414b-9eec-e74b3870dd30Post:6ea71fff-1846-4af0-bcb6-186e7ac0ace2">Paging all Accountants</a>:
    [QUOTE]I am going to publically ask my question because I'm sure someone else will have the same question. Before I go through all of the name change thing I am looking forward to my taxes. My FI and I currently live together, but I claim head of household because my children are not his. When we get married can I still claim head of househild if we file separtely?  The reason I ask  is because all of my childrens' tuition expenses/ finacial aid is based on my income. I'm already stretching it being able to qualify for aid so I know if we file jointly the aid is out of the window. I don't want to do a name change, file head of household and trigger an audit. Thanks Accountant knotties for your free informtion LOL.
    Posted by 20pearls16[/QUOTE]

    I'm not an accountant, but I have been doing taxes for the past 6 years. The answer is yes, if you file separately you can still file HOH and he file MFS (which I would suggest he keep it single because I think with MFS they ask the spouse name which would trigger a deeper dive on your return....the standard deduction is the same for Single and MFS)- its against tax law, but the only way they would know is if you answer the question were u married by 12/31/12 YES. Another thing is the way you file, stick with it. Because the minute you change or try to go back....AUDIT! I'm planning on staying with HOH and FI file Single because of the school tuition stuff and my student loans.
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  • In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/cultural-wedding-boards_african-american-weddings_paging-all-accountants?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Cultural Wedding BoardsForum:400Discussion:1f4cf321-ec2e-414b-9eec-e74b3870dd30Post:9f7a3f2d-f189-4ff2-9662-3e34f996f1d0">Re: Paging all Accountants</a>:
    [QUOTE]In Response to Paging all Accountants : I'm not an accountant, but I have been doing taxes for the past 6 years. The answer is yes, if you file separately you can still file HOH and he file MFS (which I would suggest he keep it single because I think with MFS they ask the spouse name which would trigger a deeper dive on your return....the standard deduction is the same for Single and MFS)-<strong> its against tax law</strong>, but the only way they would know is if you answer the question were u married by 12/31/12 YES. Another thing is the way you file, stick with it. Because the minute you change or try to go back....AUDIT! I'm planning on staying with HOH and FI file Single because of the school tuition stuff and my student loans.
    Posted by MrsSmith2Be02[/QUOTE]

    <p>Most tax preparers incorrectly encourage taxpayers to file with this status. It's not correct. </p>

     

  • Morgan not to be contrary but I was just about to post something similar.  This is from the IRS 501 Publication.  If you're married and you file head of household, you're asking for it. 


    Head of Household

    You may be able to file as head of household if you meet all the following requirements.

    1. You are unmarried or “considered unmarried” on the last day of the year.

    2. You paid more than half the cost of keeping up a home for the year.

    3. A “qualifying person” lived with you in the home for more than half the year (except for temporary absences, such as school). However, if the “qualifying person” is your dependent parent, he or she does not have to live with you. See Special rule for parent , later, under Qualifying Person.

     
  • I am so happy I seen this post..This is great info !!!!!!
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  • This is great! Shout out to B for asking this!!,
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  • I'm late on this but you go to link below and play out the different scenarios.

    http://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/calculators/taxcaster/

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  • LSASLSAS member
    First Comment
    I am an accountant and this is what we suggest to our clients :)


    In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/cultural-wedding-boards_african-american-weddings_paging-all-accountants?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Cultural Wedding BoardsForum:400Discussion:1f4cf321-ec2e-414b-9eec-e74b3870dd30Post:36b036f9-c1d1-4038-9125-dbe1a89ba336">Re: Paging all Accountants</a>:
    [QUOTE]Hey Girlie, my hubby actually works for the IRS so I emailed him your question...this is what he said HTH If you're married you only have two options to file which are married filing jointly or married filing seperately, It doesn't matter if you legally have the same name or not. All that matters is if you are legally married. So if you're married and going to file seperately according to the tax law you should be fling married filing separately. Not Head of household. Plenty of married couples with the same name or not file seperately and do head of household. About 50% are audited. By being married and filing head of household, this signals one trigger on your return, this alone won't necessarily trigger an audit unless your return has other triggers as well. But keep in mind if you do get audited and the IRS finds out you are married they will change your filing status for both you and your spouse and depending on the amount of tax owed they are at liberty to issue up to a 30% penalty depending on the mood of your examiner. Also keep in mind how “truthful” you were on your prior years returns before making your decision. If audited they will look at the last 3 years as well.     
    Posted by MsAmeera25[/QUOTE]
    Anniversary
  • I'm so late to this party, and I always say that I'm an accountant that does NOT do taxes... but your filing status would be based on your December 31 marital status which is married. You choose MFJ or MFS... MFS usually is not beneficial.  

    Good luck. Consult a tax accountant for this year. Princess got  you to the right place though.  
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