Married filing jointly vs. separately

The basic difference

• Jointly: one return with both spouses' income, deductions and credits. According to the IRS, you are both responsible for the full tax on that return, even if only one of you had income.
• Separately: each spouse files their own return with their own income, and each is responsible only for their own.

Standard deduction and tax brackets for 2025

• The standard deduction is $31,500 if you file jointly, and $15,750 for each spouse if you file separately.
• If your spouse itemizes deductions on their separate return, you get no standard deduction: you have to itemize too.
• Filing separately, the tax brackets are half the size of a joint return's. For example, the 10% bracket goes up to $11,925 of taxable income filing separately, against $23,850 jointly, and the 37% rate starts above $375,800 filing separately, against $751,600 jointly.

What you lose or get less of filing separately

• The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC): generally not allowed. According to the IRS, there is an exception if you lived apart from your spouse for the last 6 months of the year or are legally separated, and a qualifying child lived with you for more than half the year.
• The child and dependent care credit: generally not allowed, except under a similar exception for spouses living apart.
• The education credits (the American Opportunity and Lifetime Learning credits) and the student loan interest deduction: not allowed.
• The Marketplace premium tax credit: generally not allowed, except under specific IRS exceptions.
• The new 2025 deductions for seniors (up to $6,000 for each spouse 65 or older), for tips and for overtime: they require a joint return if you are married.
• The capital loss you can subtract from other income drops to $1,500, against $3,000 jointly.
• The cap on the state and local tax deduction is up to $20,000, against up to $40,000 jointly.

The Child Tax Credit

The 2025 Child Tax Credit is up to $2,200 for each qualifying child, with either filing status. It starts to shrink once adjusted gross income goes past $400,000 if you file jointly, or $200,000 if you file separately.

When filing separately can make sense

• You want to be responsible only for your own tax, for example if you have doubts about your spouse's income or tax debts.
• One of you has high medical expenses: those expenses are deductible to the extent they exceed 7.5% of adjusted gross income, and filing separately that income is lower.
• If you live in a community property state, such as California, separate returns follow special IRS rules for dividing income between spouses.
• Once the filing deadline has passed, according to the IRS you can switch from separate returns to a joint return by amending, but generally not the other way around.

How Vordana Tax handles it

In Vordana Tax you choose your filing status, and each option comes with a short explanation. To e-file separately you need your spouse's name and Social Security number or ITIN. If you file separately, the program asks whether you lived apart from your spouse for the last 6 months of the year and whether your spouse itemizes deductions, and applies the married-filing-separately limits to your return.

Vordana Tax does not compare both options for you on one screen: you can change your filing status before you file and check the result. It also does not divide community property income between spouses for you.

Questions