DC Marriage Penalty?

MrTLicious

Going through the DC tax process, it seems that if my wife and I could file as single, we would use a standard deduction of $4,150 each. However, if we file separately on the same return, we get a total standard deduction of $4,150.

Is this correct? Are we each allowed to file as single to avoid this?

zepherin

MrTLicious wrote: »

Going through the DC tax process, it seems that if my wife and I could file as single, we would use a standard deduction of $4,150 each. However, if we file separately on the same return, we get a total standard deduction of $4,150.

Is this correct? Are we each allowed to file as single to avoid this?

EDITED:

So yes you get screwed, if you are living in DC proper you should itemize if you can. If you were not married until this year, file single. If you were married as of December 31st 2015. You should be filing married (either jointly or separately), not doing so could be considered tax fraud, please consult a local tax attorney on that regard.

MrTLicious

How did you get to that page? Those numbers seem incredibly out of date.

zepherin

MrTLicious wrote: »

How did you get to that page? Those numbers seem incredibly out of date.

Apparently I accessed an outdated page. Jesus. Why would DC even have that as an option?

http://otr.cfo.dc.gov/page/individual-income-tax-filing-faqs
Ok Yeah you were right $4,150, but you still get screwed.

davidsdurions

If you file married filing separately then your spouse would also file married filing separately. Almost always you'd just file jointly unless you have a specific reason for keeping your finances separated. I'm not sure of the rules for DC but your filing status for federal return would probably have to line up the DC return too. So the benefit of filing jointly on federal might outweigh the benefit of doing desperate returns for DC. Definitely get some local pro advice.