Starting off the year newly married and with a raise!

[use2betrix]

So a couple days ago I married my gf of nearly 4 years. I got back to work today, and got a promotion and a $10/hr raise!

In addition, my vehicle insurance went down $100/mo for getting married. Plus, since I got legally married before New Years and I made wayyyyy more than my wife did last year, I'll get an extra $8000+ back on my taxes, and will get a lot more back claiming married moving forward!

Looking to be a good 2016!

[Erica]

Congratulations!!!

[warehouse]

Congrats!! Sounds like it is going to be a great year!

[Playing with Fire UK]

Congratulations.

[Anatidae V]

Wait, it treats you like you were married for the whole year? Wow!

[use2betrix]

Wait, it treats you like you were married for the whole year? Wow!

It does! So even though our wedding was in January we got legally married in December! Pretty sweet deal!

[brett2k07]

Congratulations!

Wait, it treats you like you were married for the whole year? Wow!

It does! So even though our wedding was in January we got legally married in December! Pretty sweet deal!

And yes, it does. All the more reason to have kids in December too. You get all of the tax benefits for that first year and will have had little expenses on the little snot monster.

[bzzzt]

Glad it works out for you. I had the opposite tax experience the first year we were married. As single, we each would've had nice refunds, as married, we owed a couple thousand. Having a child in 2014 didn't help much tax wise either.

I wonder a few times a year if a paper divorce would make sense financially. Just ran preliminary numbers today and we'd end up with ~$7000 return for two singles vs. owing $3000 married.

For us, the tax side of marriage sucks.

[ender]

Glad it works out for you. I had the opposite tax experience the first year we were married. As single, we each would've had nice refunds, as married, we owed a couple thousand. Having a child in 2014 didn't help much tax wise either.

I wonder a few times a year if a paper divorce would make sense financially. Just ran preliminary numbers today and we'd end up with ~$7000 return for two singles vs. owing $3000 married.

For us, the tax side of marriage sucks.

We got married early January.

Batching all our deductions into my year prior to the January (charitable giving mainly) saved a bunch more than it would have benefited us to get the year before, together.

Also your "refund vs not refund" isn't really the right question, it's your total taxes. You might have just filled out your W4 correctly after being married, and had it incorrectly filled out before..

[bzzzt]

Also your "refund vs not refund" isn't really the right question, it's your total taxes. You might have just filled out your W4 correctly after being married, and had it incorrectly filled out before..

Well, we lost student loan interest deductions, Traditional IRA deductions, and some others.

Still a "poor me", first world problem, but a frustrating one nonetheless.

Us: We're successful!
IRS: Yes you are, now pay up!

;)

[use2betrix]

Glad it works out for you. I had the opposite tax experience the first year we were married. As single, we each would've had nice refunds, as married, we owed a couple thousand. Having a child in 2014 didn't help much tax wise either.

I wonder a few times a year if a paper divorce would make sense financially. Just ran preliminary numbers today and we'd end up with ~$7000 return for two singles vs. owing $3000 married.

For us, the tax side of marriage sucks.

The perk is you must have had 2 solid incomes to not come out ahead. While we will get a good refund, it's only because I made around 12x more than she did in 2015 lol. I'd still be better off if she had an income equivalent of mine :)

[bzzzt]

The perk is you must have had 2 solid incomes to not come out ahead. While we will get a good refund, it's only because I made around 12x more than she did in 2015 lol. I'd still be better off if she had an income equivalent of mine :)

I agree on all counts. It was just a shock the first year and still gets me a little revved up around tax time.

The plus side of your situation is that it'll be a lot easier for you guys to figure out who gets to be the stay-at-home parent if you decide to have children. Haha

[use2betrix]

The perk is you must have had 2 solid incomes to not come out ahead. While we will get a good refund, it's only because I made around 12x more than she did in 2015 lol. I'd still be better off if she had an income equivalent of mine :)

I agree on all counts. It was just a shock the first year and still gets me a little revved up around tax time.

The plus side of your situation is that it'll be a lot easier for you guys to figure out who gets to be the stay-at-home parent if you decide to have children. Haha

Haha very true, and we'll save on childcare! Fortunately she loves children and they flock to her. She is a machine and I couldn't ask for a better stay-at-home wife, until she becomes a stay-at-home mom lol :)

[Gronnie]

Sounds like a good idea for a business for a while, doing at home daycare.