guiltypooh t1_j9dhnxz wrote on February 21, 2023 at 2:59 AM

I know when I got married every software had me paying the state like 500 when filing jointly but if we filed separately we owed like $50 each

azn_dude1 t1_j9djwh2 wrote on February 21, 2023 at 3:17 AM

That can happen when federal taxes too. There's a "sweet spot" if you each make like 250k-400k (don't remember exactly) where getting married will increase your combined tax liability.

Babhadfad12 t1_j9dlef2 wrote on February 21, 2023 at 3:29 AM

The 2017 tax cut and jobs act fixed this.

azn_dude1 t1_j9e5kjo wrote on February 21, 2023 at 6:51 AM

I just checked with this site. It's for 2021 but still applies https://tpc-marriage-calculator.urban.org/

Enter 500k wage for each person, no children, and standard deductions. You pay 7k more in tax if you file as a married couple than if you filed two single returns.

Babhadfad12 t1_j9e66d0 wrote on February 21, 2023 at 6:58 AM

Damn, you are correct. I guess they only fixed some parts of it, but I recalled reading it was largely fixed.

https://www.thetaxadviser.com/issues/2019/jun/marriage-tax-penalty-post-tcja.html

Ethoannalol t1_j9fs0ru wrote on February 21, 2023 at 4:39 PM

I didn't believe it at first, since at first glance the brackets for married are exactly double of the single ones. However, it looks like its the high end of the 35% bracket that ruins things. For single the 35% bracket is from 215951-539900, for married its 431901-647850. so any married totals that are above 647850 get penalized.