Separate vs. Single

• If you meet the IRS requirement for being married, your choices are to file married and jointly or married and separately. Don't be confused between filing separately and filing as single. They are not the same. If you file as single, you are indicating to the IRS that you were legally single on Dec. 31st, the end of the tax year. If you were married at the end of the tax year, you cannot file as single. Conversely, if you were married prior to the end of the tax year, you must either file as married filing jointly or married filing separately.
  
  

Single vs. Married

• Currently, if each spouse is in the lower tax brackets (15 percent or less), there is no direct tax benefit or drawback to filing as married. Each spouse is essentially treated as though they filed as single. There can, however, be other tax advantages. For example, one spouse can file as head of household and perhaps take a dependent exemption credit.
  
  

Married: Cons

• Couples in which each spouse is a high-income earner may pay more in taxes than if they were single. Elizabeth Carlassare, in her "Money Girl" article, calls this the marriage penalty. However, the marriage penalty applies only when each spouse is in the 28 percent tax bracket and their combined, taxable income exceeds $128,500. This is the level at which the marriage penalty applies.
  
  

Married: Benefits

• "The standard deduction for a married couple is twice the amount for a single person," Carlassare says --- so a couple generally has about twice the deductions, making filing married versus single similar on average. However, just as some couples pay a little more for filing as married, others pay a little less. This can happen when one spouse has a higher income than the other.