Question

A client visits your office for the following tax advice on December 1st. My fiancé and I are thinking of getting married in the next month. We have 1 child together. Would it be better for us to get married on December 31st or wait until January 1st for income tax purposes? What tax advice would you give your client, what additional questions would you ask and how would you support you conclusion?

Answer 1

A client Visiting my office for tax advice relating to getting married on december 31st or wait until january 1st.

First Question i will ask would be related to income of both Persons so that further analysis can be done.

If One partner has much lesser income than other but both pays taxes then getting married and double deductions and slab would be better option.

Further after knowing their income and all other details, Further assessment can be done as per this analysis and select the lowest amount.

Particulars	Amount
If They do not get married on 31st December
Tax payable by Both partner filing individually return current year
Tax Payable by Both Partner Filing Joint return after marriage in next year
Tax Payable by Both partner filling Married separately return next year
If they get Married on 31st december
Tax payable by both partner filing joint return in current year
Tax payable by both partner filing married separately return in current year

Further analysis will be done regarding the ongoing marriage penalty and marriage bonuses. Sometimes standard deductions and exemptions are not doubly available to married couples and also tax slab rate is just double in case of income tax bracket of 10% and 15% only after tax marriage penalty is incurred.

Hence a most possible and optimum solution will be taken for the Partners.