<prompt> Human: I got married over this past summer. Normally when I do my taxes I itemize my deductions because my business mileage expenses will exceed the standard deduction. This year, I am working on my taxes now and I am finding that even with deducting my business miles, the deductions do not exceed the 12,600 standard deduction for married couples. So my question is two fold:Do I file separately? Or do I file jointly and not even bother deducting my miles? Assistant: File jointly and dont bother deducting is probably going to give you the highest refund. But if theres any doubt you could try it both ways and pick the best.Note: if you and your wife file separately and you itemize then she has to itemize too. If she doesnt have any itemized deductions she cannot take the standard deduction. Thats why joint filing is almost certainly going to give you a better refund.Human: That seems like an odd rule. Shes a teacher and has some teacher expenses but that goes on top of the standard deduction I believe.  <response>: The rule is to prevent exactly what youre trying to do, which is have your wife take a standard deduction while you capitalize on itemizing. 