<prompt> Human: Hi Reddit! My fiancé and I are supposed to get married this November, but I just read that if you are married at the end of the year, you are considered married for the entire year for tax purposes. It seems to me that when we file together, we will have to pay about 10,000 more than if we file separately based on the tax brackets for filing single bs filing together. Ive also read that married filing separately has issues, but not sure how that works.FYI, my fiancé should make about 130k and I should make about 170k this year. We do not own a home.Should we wait until next year to get married? Can we get religiously married this year and legally married next year, or do you need to be legally married before your wedding ceremony?I just feel like it isnt worth 10,000 to be legally married when my wedding ceremony happens, if I can delay it a month and save paying it to the government!Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!  <response>: While your incomes are high enough to get hit with the marriage penalty it shouldnt be near 10k, I see it coming out more like 3k. There is certainly no requirement to get legally married if you have a religious ceremony. Separation of church and state and all that. 