I wanted to post a real-world example of bad advice on the internet from an otherwise reputable site.
https://www.personalcapital.com/blog/financial-planning-2/love-marriage-taxes/This article wrongly applies tax to two tax situations; married filing jointly and married filing separately. It finds that, for couples with similar incomes, married filing separately leads to paying significantly less in taxes. This finding is due to the highest tax rate the couple is subject to being wrongfully applied to the entire taxable income.
The example given has $76,000 in taxable income and a 25% tax bracket, coming out to $19,000 in taxes applied.
Using the IRS's 2016 Tax Table gives us a tax of $10,549. When making the comparison between married filing jointly and married filing separately, the couple would pay $305 more in taxes by filing separately.
These examples assume no deductions or exemptions applied.
Read on and be vigilant.
Thank you for your time.
