Hi there

Not sure if anybody has any advice off the top of their head!

My wife and I just got married and had a child at the end of the 2013 calendar year. She did not make much money in 2013. I made about 61-62k and have done the standard deduction in years passed (when I was single).

Her mother advised me to file with baby only for 2013 and have wifey file alone. She thought we might save money that way vs me claiming both of them.

Any thoughts?

I guess it depends on your specific personal tax situation; Most couples file their return jointly;as you can see, in general, MFJ is almost always better than MFS. Did you do each of your returns as MFS, and then add the resulting taxes together? When MFS, if one of you itemizes, you both must (even if the other's deductions are zero or small). You also lose certain deductions and credits, especially if you have dependents. You don't split your dependent on two returns if yu file return as MFS. However, separate returns could produce tax savings if one spouse has a lot of medical expenses and a low income. By filing separately, the spouse with the doctor bills might be more likely to meet the 10 percent ofAGI threshold needed to itemize medical costs aslongss the psouse itemizes deductions on Sch A of 1040. Taxpayers age 65 or older can still use the 7.5 percent threshold through 2016. Only one spouse on a joint return must meet that age to get the lower deduction percentage.

No that's the thing. I'm lazy so I haven't done that lol.

But thank you for your reply. I think the main issue is she has student loans to pay back. She's afraid if we file jointly that they will take most of the money for her loans. She would rather pay those back slowly over the next few years.