Planning on a wedding for january 3rd but have been told to move it up for tax write off, will it matter?

Question

will it really matter if we move the wedding up to be married in 2008? what are the benefits if any

Answer 1

You are in luck.  I am a tax preparer and happen to be in the wedding section :)

AS A BRIDE TO BE, here is my response:

You intend to be married for the rest of your life, 3 days and 1 tax return should not be the reason you opt to marry on a day other than the one you have chosen with your fiance.

AS A TAX PREPARER, here is my response:

Every situation is different, but the main difference would be that you can claim married filing jointly (MFJ) for the entire year instead of each of you filing separate tax returns  where you are each single taxpayers.

If one of you makes good money and the other is average to low you may become re-eligible for some tax breaks by being MFJ.  For example - If you make $75k per year, you are beyond the phase-out and not eligible for deducting student loan interest if you are a single taxpayer.  If your new spouse earns $50k per year, your total income would be $125k under the MFJ rules and you would be below the MFJ threshhold of $140k and that interest would become tax deductible again.

What used to be refered to as the 'marriage tax penalty' is no longer in existence.  The standard deduction for a single taxpayer is 1/2 of that of MFJ filers  (in the past, MFJ was not double the single deduction so this was considered a "penalty").  Because of this, it is the "little things" such as student loan interest that would become factors that you could benefit from by marrying in 2008.

SO, unless you are currently not able to deduct certain things because you earn too much as a single taxpayer, it really isn't going to make a big difference on your taxes dollar-wise.

Answer 2

The only thing that will matter is if you're married in calendar year 2008, even if you marry on Dec. 31, you can file your taxes for the entire year as "married filing jointly."  The only way to know if that will help or hurt your tax situation is to roughly figure it both ways.  

I agree with the 1st person though, if you're more worried about your taxes than getting married, your priorities might not be where they should be.  

I was married on Jan 16.  

Answer 3

Hi Josh:

Why not put this question in the "tax" section.  Unless someone on here is a tax preparer or an accountant, I don't know if anyone in the wedding section can help you.

Obviously, you won't get a "write off" per se.  You cannot claim any of your wedding expenses as a tax write off.  You will save some because of "married filing jointly" rather than "single," but I don't know the comparison.

Flip this into the tax section and perhaps someone there will know.

Answer 4

Plan your wedding when it's best for the two of you and not based on any monetary benefit. Trust me, whatever benefit there is will be small and insignificant when celebrating your 20th anniversary. Some things are left to be romantic.

Answer 5

You are more concerned with tax benefits than getting married?  Are you serious?