Married filing separately questions?

My husband and I are in the middle of a divorce. I would like to be civil about it, he would not. I am a student, I only made $2,500 last year, we have no dependents to claim, we have no property together, he has some mutual funds in his name only, will it really make that much of a difference if we file "married filing separately"? I would do a tax calculator but I don't have his W2 info. I figured since there are no dependent tax breaks to be had and since my income was so low, if he is eligible for a refund (he makes about $56,000 per year, but I don't know if he had any profits/losses with his investments) there can't be much of a difference could there?

You don't mention whether or not you normally itemize. If he itemizes, you would have to itemize, but since your income is less than $3400, you would still get all your withholding back.

When he files, he has to only take his exemption ($3400 vs. $6800), can only take his standard deduction if he doesn't itemized ($5350 instead of $10,700), if he has stock losses he can only take $1500 as a loss, not $3000 and he's in a higher tax bracket. 25% instead of 15%.

It will probably make a difference, maybe a large difference, in HIS tax, but it won't hurt you to file separately.

Yes, its your best option considering no property and no dependants.

I say you really need to. From what you are saying - and I thoroughly understand the emotional stress - he is not telling you every
thing. He didn't show you his W-2. Did he show you his pay stubs? If he is cheating on his taxes, the IRS holds you jointly and severally liable if you file Married Filing Jointly. If you file that way, and it turns out he was not totally forthright with the IRS, you would have to fill out an injured spouse form. In a word, you would be saying "I didn't know'. However, the IRS is going to assume you did know. That's the long and short of it. Now, then, you may be better off to file Married Filing Separately since you had a low income and he may have not a very, very high income. You do not an earned income credit to lose out on. You will lose any Education credits {Form 8863} you had coming, but it is not going to matter in your situation. You have your exemption, hence your Federal income tax liability is going to be zero. You definitely should file, not only to get your withholdings back, but so the IRS will know you are not hiding anything. It would goof up your soon to be ex taxes, also. If he had a loss on sold investments, he can only deduct 1500 instead of 3000. The rest he has to carry over.

Married Filing Jointly or filing separately? If one of you made a large income and the other a small income, you should input in to the software Married Filing Separately as well as Married Filing Jointly. You should do it both ways to see which is better for your family. You could put a large amount of
itemized deductions on education, residential energy credits, tuition and fees deduction, etc, on the side of the spouse with the small income. There is the possibility that you would have a lower Federal income tax liability this way. It would flow to the State and you may have a lower income tax liability with the State as well. This doesn't happen often, but it does occur. You would not be trapped in to filing Married Filing Separately in subsequent years. You have the option every tax year.