when using married filing jointly status your total combined tax liability is often lower than the sum of your individual tax liabilities if you had filed separately 3 the internal revenue service irs encourages couples to file together by offering them various tax benefits that don t apply to other filing statuses 4
couples who file together qualify for multiple tax credits including 3a joint tax return often provides a bigger tax refund or a lower tax liability however this is not always the case a couple may want to investigate their options by calculating the refund or balance due when filing jointly and separately then use the one that provides the biggest refund or the lowest tax liability taxes can get pretty tricky when in doubt see a professional tax preparer married filing jointly requirementsyou can use the married filing jointly status if both of the following statements are true 5before filing taxes married couples should run some calculations to determine whether it makes more sense financially for them to file jointly or separately filing jointly is usually more rewarding although not in every case if you were not divorced or legally separated on dec 31 you are still considered unmarried if all of the following apply 3