<prompt> Human: Hello PF, been lurking around here for a while and have got to start by saying theres some great advice in this thread. So thanks for that.Now to the questions. I recently got married and need to start the process of merging out financial lives together. The first step of this is changing our tax filing status. Quick Bio: Were both 25, and employed. She makes 85,000 a year as a PA, and has approximately 150,000 in student loan debt. I make around 75,000 a year as an engineer and am paying on a house that is solely in my name 20 equity, 140k value. Given this info, is there any reason we shouldnt file jointly? Running the numbers real quickly, our total tax liability for MFS 31,869 vs. MFJ31,851. Does her high student loan debt, or me singly owning the home have any unseen benefitsdamage either way? Also, do we get any benefit if I put her name on the house? Thanks for all of the help. Looking forward to your replies,  <response>: IBR is really the only reason to even consider it. Even then, MFS is very punitive; you want to avoid it if possible.None of those other things factor in. 