Getting Married? Filing Status Considerations by Benita Tyler, TBSUSA.com

Check out this guest post by my friend Benita Tyler of http://tbsusa.com/ Tax and Accounting Services. Following my wedding theme these past couple of months, Benita offers some practical tax advice for engaged or newlywed couples. Please visit the TBS website for an extensive outline of the tax and accounting services available to you!

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Summer is wedding season. If you are getting married this summer, remember to give some attention to your 2010 tax filing status. You have two filing status options: married filing jointly, or married filing separately.

Married Filing Jointly

You can choose married filing jointly as your filing status if you are married and both you and your spouse agree to file a joint return. On a joint return, you report your combined income and deduct your combined allowable expenses. You can file a joint return even if one of you had no income or deductions.

According to the IRS, if you and your spouse decide to file a joint return, your tax may be lower than your combined tax for the other filing statuses. Also, your standard deduction (if you do not itemize deductions) may be higher, and you may qualify for tax benefits that do not apply to other filing statuses.

We recommend that if you and your spouse each have income, you figure your tax both on a joint return and on separate returns (using the filing status of married filing separately). You can choose the method that gives you the lower combined tax.

Joint Responsibility. Both of you may be held responsible, jointly and individually, for the tax and any interest or penalty due on your joint return. One spouse may be held responsible for all the tax due even if all the income was earned by the other spouse.

Married Filing Separately

You can also choose married filing separately as your filing status if you are married. This filing status may benefit you if you want to be responsible only for your own tax or if it results in less tax than filing a joint return.

We understand that knowing which filing status to choose can be confusing. If you want easy to understand explanations for your tax questions contact us!

Benita Tyler, President
http://www.tbsusa.com/
info@tbsusa.com
313-377-1080

Getting Married Debt Free!

It's wedding season, in fact I have several friends getting married each month from July - December this year. Yes, my complete social calendar from now on will be weddings and receptions!

I am actually a bridesmaid in one of the weddings and our adventures in searching out 'wedding stuff' prompted this post. From the flowers to the dresses, when you add 'wedding' - it gets very expensive.

So how do you get married without breaking the bank? I have some tips and I also reached out to my Facebook  family for suggestions - here is what we came up with:

Coach Conner - The B-word: Set your wedding budget ....(You knew this was coming right?)

Yes, you and your future spouse need a wedding budget. Develop a goal of what you want to spend and set aside money from each pay to go toward your wedding. Guys normally have no problem with this...women on the other hand get caught up in the emotion and sentiment of it all.
So definitely make sure it's beautiful, but stick to your budget. Guys, hold your bride accountable... without causing arguments...er.. good luck with that!

Cash is King! You can negotiate everything when you are paying with cash. When you show that you are ready to purchase, and with cash - a vendor will go down in price before they let you walk out the door.

Andrea L.-  My daughter got married last year. We saved money by doing our own flowers for the church and reception. We hosted the reception at a restaurant which we shut down for the day. We selected a great menu and didn't have to rent a space for the reception.

Angelina B. -  Keep your invite list small. People really do understand when it comes to weddings. Invite those who have invited you to theirs (rule of etiquette) and if you haven't talked to folks in over a year (unless they're family!) don't invite them!

Also - dresses are marked down (or will be) once prom season is over and that is a good place to search for bridesmaids dresses!
Ann A. -  Get married intimately and have a reception for invited guests!

Brenda M. - Consider having a lunch/brunch reception, it's usually half the cost of a evening reception.

Benita T. -  Do your own invites and if there is a wedding party, select dresses that the bridesmaids can wear after the wedding.

This should get you started .. next post is Money and Your New Honey!  Financial conversations you should have before you get married....

Check it Out - Wedding Websites!

Wedding Tips for Grooms: http://www.groomsonline.com/

Wedding Tips for Brides: http://www.theknot.com/

Your Financial Coach,
Dorethia
http://www.connercoaching.com/