<prompt> Human: I know very little about taxes, but Ive never had a problem really up until this year because of a bizarre situation. I overpaid my tax withholdings this year while my wife grossly underpaid on accident. Would we be better off filing separately with my wife claiming our children to offset her underpayment, while i file alone? I made about 50k, while my wife made around 30k and we live in New Mexico.  <response>: The vast majority of married couples are better off filing jointly. 