IRS & PHYSICIANS: Married Filing Separately May Save Taxes?

Posted on March 16, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

By Staff Reporters

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The IRS considers taxpayers married if they are legally married under state law, live together in a state-recognized common-law marriage, or are separated but have no separation maintenance or final divorce decree as of the end of the tax year.

CITE: https://www.r2library.com/Resource/Title/082610254

Of the 150.3 million tax returns filed in 2016, the latest year for which the IRS has published statistics, 3.07 million belonged to twosomes who filed separately.

  • These partners reported individual income and expenses on individual tax returns.
  • They had to agree on either itemizing expenses or using the standard deduction.
  • By filing separately, their similar incomes, miscellaneous deductions or medical expenses likely helped them save taxes.

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Consequences of Filing Married Separate | SC Associates

Filing separately with similar incomes

A couple may pay the IRS less by filing separately when both physician spouses work and earn about the same amount.

  • When they compare the tax due amount under both joint and separate filing statuses, they may discover that combining their earnings puts them into a higher tax bracket.
  • Their savings depends on a variety of other factors, however, including their investment situation and whether they have children.
  • The “married filing separately” status cuts the deductions for IRA contributions and eliminates certain tax credits, among other tax breaks.

Using miscellaneous deductions by filing separately (for tax years prior to 2018)

Miscellaneous deductions can lower taxable income, but in order to enter them on Schedule A, they must add up to more than 2% of adjusted gross income (AGI).

  • Physician or other spouses with union dues, job-search costs, tax-preparation fees and un-reimbursed business expenses may find their miscellaneous deductions don’t qualify when their higher combined income raises their AGI.
  • A spouse who travel frequently for business could rack up a sizable tally in airline fees for baggage and itinerary changes that makes the miscellaneous deduction worth pursuing.

Beginning in 2018, these types of miscellaneous expenses are no longer deductible.

Filing separately to save with unforeseen expenses

Adjusted gross income also determines if a couple can use un-reimbursed health care costs and casualty losses on Schedule A to save taxes.

  • Unless out-of-pocket medical expenses exceed 7.5% of AGI for 2021, they don’t qualify as a deduction.
  • Casualty losses must also total more than 10% of AGI and occur in a federally declared disaster area.

The spouse with the loss or substantial medical outlay calculates deductibility against his or her own lower AGI when the couple files separate returns. When one spouse can lower taxable income this way, married filing separately might trim a couple’s overall tax burden.

Filing separately to guard the future

When you don’t want to be liable for your partner’s tax bill, choosing the married-filing-separately status offers financial protection: the IRS won’t apply your refund to your spouse’s balance due. Separate returns make sense to prevent the IRS from seizing a spouse’s tax refund when the other has fallen behind on child support payments.

Couples in the process of divorcing may shun joint returns to avoid post-divorce complications with the IRS, while a spouse who questions her partner’s tax ethics may feel more comfortable living a separate tax life.

Couples living in community-property states should consider state law when deciding how to file.

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Physician Couples and Money Management

Posted on December 5, 2014 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

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On Cash Management Techniques

By Rick Kahler MS CFP® www.KahlerFinancial.com

Rick Kahler MS CFPMoney is just one of many challenges to becoming part of a couple; especially for physicians. Probably the most common question couples ask me concerns the best way to handle their cash management.

Specifically, they wonder if they should combine all their cash flow into one joint checking account, keep everything separate, or have some combination of both.

Stock Answers

My stock answer is “yes.” It seems that, the older I become, the fewer right answers there are and the more often I say, “It depends.” This is one of those situations where there is no one best method.

Future Physicians

Let’s consider the advantages and disadvantages of each approach.

  1. Combining everything in one joint account

The plus side of this scenario is that there is total financial transparency as to where the money comes from and goes to. Each party has full access to and opportunity to be fully aware of the money flow. It’s easy to track. There are no secrets.

Which brings us to the downside: there are no secrets, no autonomy. Each party can see the other’s spending and spend the other’s money. This works well in some relationships where the shared belief is, “My money is your money and your money is my money.” It doesn’t work well absent that philosophy. I find this scenario is often problematic when one or both of the parties want autonomy over how they spend their money without the watchful (often critical) eye of the other. Often this arrangement doesn’t work well in second marriages or where both parties have careers.

  1. Keeping everything completely separate

The positive of this scenario is that each party has complete autonomy and control over his or her money. This often works well for two-career couples or second marriages where both partners came into the union with significant pensions or assets. It may also be a good fit for unmarried couples. If one partner is a spendthrift, it can protect the other partner from unauthorized purchases.

The negatives are that it can be more difficult to manage joint expenses like housing costs and that neither party has any specifics into the spending of the other. If a partner has any type of addiction, separate accounts can serve to enable the addiction by hiding the extent of the problem from the other partner.

  1. Combination of joint and separate accounts

The advantage to this scenario is that it provides more autonomy than putting everything into a joint account, yet it offers an easier way to manage joint expenses. It can often result in a clear agreement on what is mine, yours, and ours. Some couples have a system where each one’s earnings are their own, and they each contribute put fixed amounts into joint account. Another method is to deposit all the income into the joint account and give each partner a periodic allowance.

The disadvantages to this are the need to manage three accounts and to decide who writes the checks from the joint account.

Spouses

Case Example:

Personally, my wife and I use the third option. As the major breadwinner, I deposit most of my income into the joint account, from which she pays all the family bills. A smaller amount of my income goes into my separate account that I use to pay for private schooling, funding 529 plans, and personal care like massages and haircuts.

Assessment

Problems often arise when partners assume the money should be managed (or is being managed) in a certain way. No matter which approach couples use, the most important factor is to discuss it and agree, as equal partners, to a system that works for them.

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