My husband and I bought a house (March 2008) should we file our taxes separately or jointly?

We filed separately last year and I did pretty good because I have 2 dependents...My husband did ok he has 1 dependent(we do not have children together). But we didn't have the house last year either. What is the best thing to do?|||I am sure you did pretty good if you filed head of household, you were able to claim credits. But, that is cheating the government. If you filed Married filing separately is similar to being single when it comes down to paying taxes and you can't claim the EIC, if you qualify.





The best and honest way to do it is to file together. You bought a new house this year so it would be good to get credit for being a first time home buyer. But, you will pay less taxes if you file together.|||You'll always pay less tax if you file married filing jointly.|||In almost every case, it works out better for couples to file as MFJ rather than MFS.





Just plug in your numbers both ways and see what works out best for you. You don't need to actually file in order to play around online at any of the bigger tax prep sites.|||listen to the Prophet ..|||The "joint or separate" question has a lot of factors. And the savings, if you file separately, often show up in the state returns. In general, if your incomes are very similar, you might do better filing separately. If one of you makes a deal more than the other, I can almost guarantee you'll be better off going joint.





But to be sure - you have to do them both ways, fed AND state, and add up everything both ways, to see which is best for you.