Last week, I finished the tax return of a long-time client (call him John Smith). We were on the phone reviewing his return and he mentioned his wife. He was filing his 2024 tax return as “Single.” After I congratulated him, I asked when he got married. He replied, “last August.” I sighed.
With weddings comes changes in tax status. Your marital status on December 31st determines your marital status for the year. If you are married, you file as Married Filing Jointly or Married Filing Separately. (In some rare cases, if you’re married you can file as Head of Household.) But you can’t file as single. Likewise, if you’re single you can’t file as married.
Perhaps it’s something in the water, but this year this is the second case of an individual who ignored his marriage license and wanted to file as single (though he was married). There’s a good reason for that, of course: you save on taxes. A big issue is rental real estate: If you’re actively involved in rental real estate you get to take losses of up to $25,000. But there’s an income cap (the deduction begins to phase out at an income of $100,000 and completely phases out at $150,000). This particular deduction is neither indexed for inflation nor does it vary if you are single or married. (There are numerous other areas of the Tax Code that penalize marriage.)
There’s a problem taking deductions you’re not entitled to: tax evasion. It’s a Bozo act to claim things you’re not entitled to.
Marriage has its ups and downs. Claiming you’re single on your tax return when you’re married will in the long-run cause you nothing but downs. Thankfully, my client and his spouse are now discussing if they will each file “Married Filing Separately” or if they will file a joint return.