Dear Awesome Mustachians,
Doh! Just realized today is last day to submit recertification of income for my income-based student loan plan. I'm doing 10 year public service loan forgiveness (3 years into it) so I'm going for low payments with income-based plan. I got married this summer.
I'm in the $38,701 to $82,500 22% tax bracket, but both my spouse and I are in the 12% bracket once you factor in our contributions to retirement accounts. (He makes somewhat less than I do). He has no student loans. We have no kids. I don't qualify for the PAYE plan. I remember hearing that even if we file separately it won't help with my loans much...
I'm pretty sure I should submit pay stubs instead of letting them pull my most recent tax return b/c not too long ago when I submitted pay stubs, they reduced my monthly payment b/c my tax sheltered contributions were higher than they were before. Any disagreement to that?
Maybe if I let them use my recent tax return, they'll use that (which shows me unmarried) and they won't take my husband's income into account... or maybe I'll get to another screen and then they'll ask for his tax return...
Should we file our taxes jointly?
Many thanks for any advice!!
Warmly,
E2