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Amend Federal Tax Return to Married Filing Jointly After Filing Separately

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jnindel

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Florida

I am married. I have all of my tax information available now, including my W-2 and 1099's. My spouse sold a business and will not have much of the information needed for the federal tax return until later in 2016. Last year we filed as "married filing jointly". For the 2015 tax year, can we both file as "married filing separately", and then later in 2016 amend both of our federal returns in order to file one joint return (which could result in a larger refund)?
 


LdiJ

Senior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Florida

I am married. I have all of my tax information available now, including my W-2 and 1099's. My spouse sold a business and will not have much of the information needed for the federal tax return until later in 2016. Last year we filed as "married filing jointly". For the 2015 tax year, can we both file as "married filing separately", and then later in 2016 amend both of our federal returns in order to file one joint return (which could result in a larger refund)?
You can do that but it does not make much sense to do that. It makes more sense to just wait to file until you are both ready.
 

jnindel

Junior Member
You can do that but it does not make much sense to do that. It makes more sense to just wait to file until you are both ready.
Thanks, but can you be more specific as to why it does not make much sense? Is there a downside to doing that from a refund or tax-due perspective? Does the IRS look down on this sort of maneuver? My motivation behind this that I can prepare my return quickly, and I may be due a refund, but my spouse's accountant is likely to file extension(s).
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
Thanks, but can you be more specific as to why it does not make much sense? Is there a downside to doing that from a refund or tax-due perspective? Does the IRS look down on this sort of maneuver? My motivation behind this that I can prepare my return quickly, and I may be due a refund, but my spouse's accountant is likely to file extension(s).
Then maybe your husband needs a new accountant. My concern however, since he sold a business, is that he may owe, and together you may owe and therefore any refund you get now may have to be paid back. Filing separately would likely make him owe even more than you would owe jointly.

Unless you have serious cash flow issues I would recommend waiting.
 

jnindel

Junior Member
Then maybe your husband needs a new accountant. My concern however, since he sold a business, is that he may owe, and together you may owe and therefore any refund you get now may have to be paid back. Filing separately would likely make him owe even more than you would owe jointly.

Unless you have serious cash flow issues I would recommend waiting.
We don't have serious cash flow issues, and in fact, we set aside extra funds to cover any tax liability that may result due to the sale of the business. And yes, a new accountant should have been found some time ago, but the current one has almost 30 years of depreciation figures and supporting documentation that we don't have, and I suspect that he would be unlikely to forward all of it to a new accountant if we were to find one. This is the last year that we will have to rely on the current accountant.

One question remains though. If I were to file separately now, and my spouse files separately six or nine months from now (which has happened in the past using extensions), and we pay more tax than we would have paid had we filed jointly, CAN WE AMEND our returns and file a joint return that results possibly in the refund of any additional taxes that were imposed because of filing separately? Thanks again.
 
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