Required steps for first year filing as Married; Filing Jointly

StakeholderOne

Hello,

As stated I am looking to see if there are any required or helpful steps my wife and I should take prior to filing jointly for the first time? I mean this both generally and regarding the software? Should we make a new account or just use one of our pre-existing ones? The posts that I have found on the discussion board focus on how to choose filing status and those do not apply.

Thanks!

MatthewD

Hello,

Thank you for asking this question.

You can use either your existing account or your wife's existing account to file jointly—there's no need to create a new one and using an existing account will preserve prior year information for one of you. Simply log into whichever account you'd like to use, and when you get to the Filing Status section in the Personal tab, select "Married Filing Jointly." You'll then be prompted to add your spouse's information on the following screens.

Here are a few helpful tips for filing jointly for the first time:

Before You Start:
- Gather both of your W-2s, 1099s, and any other tax documents
- Have your spouse's Social Security Number, date of birth, and occupation ready
- If either of you had income, deductions, or credits to report, you'll enter all of that information in the one joint return

In the Software:
- You'll enter both spouses' personal information in the Personal section
- All income from both of you will be combined and reported on the same return
- Both spouses will need to sign the return electronically before filing, so make sure you have the prior year Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) from the spouse's account you are NOT using.

General Considerations:
- Filing jointly typically results in lower taxes for most couples, but you're both jointly and severally liable for the entire tax liability
- If either of you made estimated tax payments or had withholding, make sure to include all of those amounts

That's really all there is to it! The software will guide you through each section, and you'll simply be adding information for both of you instead of just one person.