Yes, whether separated or living together, married couples do not have to file joint returns. You check the appropriate box on your return that designates your filing status.
Yes, the election is made every year any way you want
Yes...the option to selct filing jointly or individually is entirely yours and able to be changed each year.
yes..my neice doesit and she is married, to keep from them taking the return for prior child support from earlier marriage/
YES they can if each choose to file as married filing separate on a separate federal 1040 income tax return.
yes
Absolutely.
No, you can file married filing jointly or you can file married filing separately
Sure
yes.
no way totally wrong
If you were married as of December 31, you file as either 'married filing separately' or 'married filing joint' for that year.
depends how you file, you can file a joint return or "married filing separately"
If you are married, you cannot (and should not) file single. Your choices are Married Filing Jointly or Married Filing Separately. The only time I usually see a Married Filing Separate return is either if the spouses, as a rule, just keep all of their finances separate, or if one of them owes taxes. Remember if you owe taxes the IRS will keep your refunds to apply to that balance due, so if only one of you owes taxes you can file Married Filing Separately and the one of you that does not owe taxes can still get their refunds. Also if you are going to owe on a tax return and file that return as Married Filing Separate, and then later die, your widow will not be responsible for the taxes.
No. If you are Married Filing Separately, then you only can claim your personal exemption. Your wife's personal exemption only can be claimed by her if you're Married Filing Separately. Your spouse, whether filing jointly or separately, can't be considered your dependent.
Do I have to file personal taxes if I own a small LLC? Or just file business taxes.
If only one of them has income, it will probably be to their benefit to do so, but not always. It's up to any individual couple whether they file jointly or separately.
Yes, non-married couples with joint debts must file separately. Married couples do not have to file jointly if there are no joint debts included in the filing. The exception is, if they live in a community property state, in which case the non-debtor spouse should also file to assure full protection of exempt property and prevent creditors from pursuing them for collection of the debt(s).
A married couple can file for bankruptcy separately in Illinois, as it is not uncommon for one spouse to have a significant amount of debt in their name only. However, if spouses have debt they want to discharge that they're both liable for, they should file together. Otherwise, the creditor will simply demand payment for the entire amount from the spouse who didn't file. When a married couple face bankruptcy, they can file jointly, one can file while the other doesn't or they can file separately at the same time.