Can you be married but file taxes separately

Chris Hutchison helped build NerdWallet's content team at its outset and went on to work as an assigning editor on banking and investing and oversaw taxes coverage. He now leads a team exploring new markets. Prior to joining NerdWallet, he was an editor and programmer at ESPN and a copy editor at the San Jose Mercury News.

Generally no. Married taxpayers are required to file a joint tax return in order to qualify for premium tax credits. People who use the “married filing separately” status are not eligible to receive premium tax credits (and also cannot claim certain other tax breaks, such as the child and dependent care tax credit, tuition deductions, or the earned income tax credit.)  There is a special exception, however, for individuals who must file separately because of domestic abuse or spousal abandonment.

For other married individuals who do not file a joint return, there may be other options.

If you have a dependent and meet certain conditions, you may be able to use the “head of household” filing status. People who file a tax return using this filing status can qualify for premium tax credits.

In addition, if you expect to be divorced by the end of the tax year, you will be able to file as a single taxpayer for that year and could qualify for subsidies under that filing status when you file your taxes.  However, you may not be able to receive all of the premium tax credit that you’re entitled to in advance if you are not yet divorced with you make your Marketplace application.  Except in cases of domestic abuse or spousal abandonment you should not say on your application that you are unmarried when you are still married.

If you were married as of December 31 of the tax year, you and your spouse can choose whether to file separate tax returns or whether to file a joint tax return together. Though filing jointly usually gets you a bigger refund or a lower tax bill (and most married couples file joint returns), it might be to your advantage to file separately based on your specific tax situation. Read on to learn more about the Married Filing Separate status, its advantages and disadvantages, and how to file a Married Filing Separately tax return on eFile.com. Your state might have an income tax marriage tax penalty.

When you prepare and e-File a tax return as Married Filing Separate, you and your spouse each file your own return. As such, you report your own individual income, deductions, and credits on your separate tax returns. That way, you and your spouse are only responsible for your own individual tax liability. You will not be responsible for any tax, penalties, and interest that results from your spouse's tax return.

Find out the best filing status for you with this free tax tool.

Married Filing Separately or Not?

If you and your spouse do not agree to file a joint return, then you must file separate returns, unless you are considered unmarried by the IRS and you qualify for the Head of Household filing status. You may want to file a Married Filing Separately tax return if one or more of the following situations apply to you: 

• You and/or your spouse owe unpaid taxes or child support (filing a joint tax return may result in the IRS offsetting your refund to pay the taxes)
• You and/or your spouse have income-based student loan payments (payments will be based on spouse's income rather than couple's combined income)
• You are concerned that your spouse is not up front about their tax situation (especially if you are going through a divorce) 
• You and/or your spouse have a lot of medical expenses, especially if one spouse has a lower Adjusted Gross Income amount than the other spouse
• You do not live in a community property state, which considers property earned by a couple belonging to both spouses equally
• Both you and your spouse are high income earners

The basic qualifications for married filing separately are the same as those for married filing jointly. The only difference is that you choose to file separately, or you and your spouse cannot agree to file jointly, so you have to file separately. You can file your federal return as Married Filing Separately even if you reside in a community property state, which is a state where you are required to split equally all assets acquired during a marriage. The following are community property states:

• Arizona
• California
• Idaho
• Louisiana
• Nevada
• New Mexico
• Texas
• Washington
• Wisconsin

Alaska has an "opt-in" community property law that allows such a division of property if both parties agree. Registered domestic partners who live in California, Nevada, or Washington are also subject to community property laws. 

If you file from one of these states, you will need to do some extra work. In addition to reporting your separate income and deductions on your tax return, you will need to also report half of your combined community income and deductions using a worksheet.

Advantages of Filing Separate Returns

A joint return will usually result in a lower tax liability (owed federal taxes) or a bigger tax refund than two separate returns. However, there are a few reasons or benefits as to why you (and your spouse) might want to file separate tax returns:

1. You will be responsible for only your tax return. By using the Married Filing Separately filing status, you will keep your own tax liability separate from your spouse's tax liability. When you file a joint return, you will each be responsible for your combined tax bill (if either of you owes taxes).
2. If you suspect that your spouse may be evading taxes or has cheated on any previous tax return, you can keep yourself safe from an IRS audit by filing a separate return. You will not be liable for your spouse's IRS fines, penalties, interest, and back taxes.
3. If you want to protect your own refund money, you may want to file a separate return, especially if your spouse owes child support, student loan payments, or back taxes. All of these may be taken from your tax refund by the IRS after you file a joint return. If you file a joint return, your refund is fair game because your tax liability has been combined with that of your spouse. 
4. If your adjusted gross income (AGI) on a separate return is lower than it would have been on a joint return, you may be able to claim a larger amount for some deductions that are limited by your AGI, such as medical expenses.
5. You might get a bigger refund (or owe less tax) if you file separately, but this is not usually the case. Therefore, we encourage you to estimate and compare the results of filing a joint return with the results of filing separate returns using our free 2022 Tax Refund Calculator.

All cases are unique and there are really no hard and fast rules about when filing separately will get you a bigger refund (or lower taxes due). That being said, filing separately can often benefit you if you have a lot of itemized deductions that are subject to an AGI "floor."  Consider medical expenses: For Tax Year 2021, you can only deduct unreimbursed medical expenses that are over 7.5% of your adjusted gross income, so you can deduct more of your expenses if you do not combine your AGI with that of your spouse. Also, consider investment expenses and unreimbursed employee business expenses, which are subject to a 2% floor (you can only deduct the expenses that exceed 2% of your AGI). In the case of employee business expenses, remember that you can only deduct expenses that relate to your work as an employee if any of the following apply:

• You are a qualified performing artist
• You are a fee-basis state or local government official
• You are an armed forces reservist
• You have impairment-related work expenses.

Important: If you are not required to file separately, you should compare the results of using each filing status (Married Filing Separately and Married Filing Jointly) and then use the filing status that gives you the best tax outcome for your particular situation.

Use the FREE 2022 Tax Calculator and Tax Estimator

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Disadvantages of Filing Separate Returns

If you and your spouse file separate returns, your access to certain tax benefits will be severely limited. Because of this, the combined tax calculated on separate returns is generally higher than the tax calculated on a joint return.

If your filing status is Married Filing Separately, the following limitations will apply to your tax return:

1. If your spouse itemizes deductions, you cannot claim the standard deduction. In order to claim deductions, you will have to itemize as well.
2. If you can claim the standard deduction, your standard deduction amount will be half of what it would be on a joint return.
3. You will generally have a higher tax rate than you would have on a joint return.
4. Your Alternative Minimum Tax exemption amount will be half of what you would get on a joint return.
5. In most cases, you cannot claim the Child and Dependent Care Expenses Credit and the amount that you can exclude from income under an employer's dependent care assistance program is limited to half that of a joint return filer. (If you are legally separated or living apart from your spouse, then you may still be able to file separately and claim the credit.)
6. You cannot claim the Earned Income Tax Credit.
7. In most cases, you cannot claim the Adoption Tax Credit, nor can you exclude employer-provided adoption benefits from your income.
8. You cannot claim any education tax credits (the American Opportunity Credit and Lifetime Learning Credit).
9. You cannot take the student tax deduction for student loan interest.
10. You cannot claim the tuition and fees deduction for education expenses for previous year returns.
11. You cannot exclude any interest income from U.S. savings bonds that you used for education expenses.
12. If you lived with your spouse at any time during the year, you cannot claim the tax Credit for the Elderly or the Disabled, or the "Senior Credit".
13. If you lived with your spouse at any time during the year, you have to include in your taxable income a larger amount (up to 85%) of any Social Security benefits or equivalent railroad retirement benefits you received.
14. Your Child Tax Credit will be limited to half the amount that it would be on a joint return.
15. Your Saver's Credit will be limited to half the amount that it would be on a joint return.
16. Your capital loss deduction limit will be half the amount that it would be on a joint return.
17. If you lived with your spouse at any time during the year and you or your spouse were covered by an employer-sponsored retirement plan, you may not be able to deduct some or all of your contributions to a traditional IRA if your income is over a certain amount. This amount is much lower than it would be for a joint return.
18. If you lived with your spouse at any time during the year, you cannot deduct a loss from passive rental real estate activity. If you did not live together, you can claim this deduction, but the amount will be limited.

Some of the above limitations may not affect you at all. Others may make you reconsider filing separately. For example, numbers 8-10 make the Married Filing Separately status not a good choice, tax-wise, for students. In any case, it is a good idea to estimate your tax refund or liability with our Free Tax Calculator using both married filing statuses so you know which one would be most beneficial to you.

How to File or e-File as Married Filing Separately

You can claim the Married Filing Separately filing status when you prepare and e-file your tax return on eFile.com. You will need to enter the following information for your spouse on the Personal Information screen of your eFile.com account: 

• Spouse's full name
• Spouse's SSN or ITIN (this is still required even though you are filing separately from your spouse)
• Spouse's date of birth.

If you do not have the spouse's social security number,, you can prepare the return on eFile.com, but the IRS does not allow you to eFile it. You can print your return from your eFile.com account and mail it to the IRS. Include a cover letter with your tax return and explain why the SSN and/or date of birth for the spouse are missing. Here are the mailing addresses for IRS returns.

It is easy to file as Married Filing Separately on eFile.com. Choosing your filing status is one of the first things you do when you start preparing your tax return online. Once you select your filing status, eFile.com will then apply the correct tax rates and standard deduction amounts to your return.

After the IRS accepts your Married Filing Separately tax return, if you need, you still can amend your return to a Married Filing Joint filing status return for up to 3 years after the original tax deadline (this does not include extensions). Find out how to file an amended tax return.