Married people please enumerate the tax breaks you get from being married

Aldabruzzo · 2021-03-11T14:08:12+00:00

1) "Marital premium" - you are permitted a joint marital deduction if married filing jointly

2) My state also permits a joint marital deduction higher than that for unmarried people and for married filing separately

3) Allowed to own real property as "tenants by the entirety" which is a special tax/property owner status for married people which protects your real property from seizure by creditors

4) Under the federal system, under certain circumstances and income levels, those who are married filing jointly will usually pay a lower income tax amount

5) Married people use many of the same items and purchase one for the both of them. If they lived separately they would each need one. Thus, they incur less sales tax liabilities because they purchase one of most items instead of two or more.

NarniaFox · 2021-03-11T13:34:37+00:00

Are you interested just in tax or in some other benefits as well?

mindsanitizer · 2021-03-11T14:50:29+00:00

Big one is 100% of wealth transfers when you die without paying estate taxes (if you die first). Like Steve Jobs widow didn't pay any tax when he died. Otherwise, your tax rate is lower if there's a stay at home / low income parent, and higher if both parents make about the same amount of money.

queen_beastmode · 2021-03-11T20:11:00+00:00

If you are married filing jointly your standard deduction is about twice that of a single person or a married filling separately.

A standard deduction is a set amount of non-taxed income beyond what goes into your non-taxed withholdings (401k, medical, childcare, etc).

So if a person's gross taxable income is 45,000, if that person is single they get to deduct 12,000 (I'm rounding these numbers and simplifying a lot) and get taxed on the remainder, so they pay taxes on 33,000. If the person is married filing jointly with the same gross taxable income of 45,000 they get to deduct 24,000 and only pay taxes on 21,000 of their earnings.

To give a more concrete example, say the tax rate is at 15%-- we have tiered income tax rates, btw, so this hypothetial rate is overly simplistic but illustrates the point-- then everything else being equal the single person would be paying $4950 in taxes on that 45k vs the married person who is only paying $3150 on the same 45k.

Now, this math goes out the window if you itemize deductions. But you need significant wealth and investments for your itemized deductions to exceed the single rate for standard deduction. Most families making a median income will be taking a standard deduction.

Mrs_Drgree · 2021-03-11T14:16:03+00:00

I make much less than my H, by like a lot. As a result, he has dropped one full tax bracket by marrying me. Sure, I went up by a tax bracket as well, but the difference still works in our favor, enough that it paid for our wedding in just 1 year, which was about 30k. But we are definitely an extreme example of income disparity in a marriage.

He was also able to do some tax shenanigans to hire me for his business as well, but I'm not sure what the pay off was.

ChibsFilipTelfordd · 2021-03-11T20:31:31+00:00

It's not simple depends on the context.

There is no tax break from getting married unless one partner doesn't work..

Two people making the same amount of money will get taxed the same or some cases MORE.

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Slyfer_Seven · 2021-03-11T14:08:52+00:00

https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tips/marriage/should-you-and-your-spouse-file-taxes-jointly-or-separately/L7gyjnqyM

Here

cunningcaring · 2021-03-11T17:52:48+00:00

Marriage is not about taxes.

reluctantly_red · 2021-03-11T22:30:28+00:00

The only real tax benefit in the USA is income splitting which is only beneficial if spousal incomes are grossly unequal.

teamdeathmatch1787 · 2021-03-12T11:35:08+00:00

My parents save probably ~$10,000 a year on taxes between the two of them. With us kids, probably closer to ~$15,000-$20,000. Thats before rental income, property taxes, and all the tax credits they can claim, so I’d probably guess another $5000 on top of that. That’s 10-25% of their gross income.

Title	Married people please enumerate the tax breaks you get from being married
Author	majani
Upvotes	3
Comments	39
Date	March 11, 2021 12:34 PM UTC (5 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/PurplePillDebate
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/PurplePillDebate/comments/m2p3qo/married_people_please_enumerate_the_tax_breaks/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/PurplePillDebate/married-people-please-enumerate-the-tax-breaks-you.779583 https://theredarchive.com/post/779583

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