Married Filing Separately Tax Calculator

Compare tax implications of filing separately vs. jointly. Make informed decisions about your tax filing status based on your unique financial situation.

Spouse 1 Information

Income
$
$
$
$
Deductions & Credits
$
$
$
$

Spouse 2 Information

Income
$
$
$
$
Deductions & Credits
$
$
$
$

Household Information

Shared Expenses & Assets
$
$
Expense Allocation
%
%

Married Filing Separately Calculator Help

How to Use This Calculator

This calculator can be used to contrast the amount of taxes you will save or amount to pay on different income ranges depending on whether you are taxed with your partner as one or you are taxed individually. The following does.

  1. Report income, deduction and credit of both spouses
  2. Enter your family data and share family costs
  3. Clicking the Calculate Tax Comparison button will display your results
  4. Read the advisance and breakdown

When to File Separate

In such cases it is helpful to have a separate filing:

  • One of the spouses has a serious medical expense (over 7.5 percent of AGI)
  • Deduction in a miscellaneous items category is very high on the part of one spouse
  • You wish to sever your taxable liability with your spouse
  • Student loans would be paid at a lower rate on an income basis by one spouse
  • One of the spouses has a tax problem (back taxes or liens)

Important Notes

There are trade-outs to separate filing:

  • You can lose some credits (Earned Income, Education, Child and dependent Care)
  • When one spouse itemizes the other spouse must itemize, as well
  • The IRA contribution deduction limits can be reduced
  • Capital losses are currently restricted to $1,500 per individual (as opposed to $3,000 jointly)
  • The separate tax brackets are usually more unfavorable compared to joint tax brackets

Tax Brackets and Calculations

The calculator is based on federal tax brackets of the tax year selected and uses the proper standard deduction amounts. The calculations are performed with:

  • The calculation of the AGI of both spouses
  • The standard and itemized deductions compared
  • Computing tax according to lengths which are appropriate tax brackets
  • Claiming tax credits that occurred in time with regard to allowable tax credits
  • Comparisons by filing statuses of total tax liability