Tax Experts

Should We File Joint or Separate Tax Returns?

By Kevin McCormally, Editorial Director, Kiplinger.com

April 2, 2008

Q: I am 83 and my new wife is 63. She receives social security disability benefits and other income. I receive social security and other income from dividends and interest. Based upon this, should we file joint or separate income tax returns? -- S. Lesser

Kevin's Answer:

I'd suggest a joint return.

In the more than 30 years I've been writing about taxes, I've come across fewer than a handful of couples who benefited from separate returns. In each case, it involved one spouse who had enormous, unreimbursed medical expenses. Such expenses are deductible only to the extent they exceed 7.5% of income and, in these cases, the spouse was able to deduct medical expenses that would have been blocked by the higher income on a joint return.

From the information you provide about your situation, I bet you'll save by filing a joint return. The only way to know for sure is to do your returns both ways.

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