I made around $26k this year before our daughter was born and I started staying home. She is my 3rd kid. My fiancés first kid and he is set to make a little over $50k. 2 questions: we were going to get married New Year’s Day but it dawned on me he may save on taxes if we get married in 2025?? And would he be able to claim my other 2 children if we filed jointly? (Their bio dad has NOTHING to do with them, no custody, and is $7000 behind in child support and has paid $0 in 2025)
Should we get married to pay less taxes? Can my fiancé claim my other 2 kids?
byu/Wonderful_Ideal_6994 intax
Posted by Wonderful_Ideal_6994
9 Comments
I wouldn’t
That’s not a good reason to get married either. That sounds like a scam
Probably you will pay less tax if you remain unmarried, because your fiancé can take advantage of the tax break for single parents by filing as “Head of Household”.
If you don’t get married, he would claim the youngest child and you would claim the older two.
If you do get married, then you would file jointly and of course put all three children on your joint return.
You would be better off not getting married for tax purposes. You should file single and claim your first two kids. You would also be entitled to the earned income tax credit if you meet all the other criteria.
Boyfriend should claim your 3rd child and file head of household.
This would result in a much better outcome then if you got married and filed jointly.
This is a good question for an accountant… it would probably save you on taxes, yes
From the info so far, marriage would increase, not decrease, the tax liability overall when we consider tax credits.
You’d need to run the numbers, but generally it’s better to file Married Filing Jointly, versus Single (him) and Head of Household (you). But…
Normally, I’d advise marriage from a tax perspective, as MFJ is usually advantageous. However, with only $26k in income and HoH status, it’s possible you could have some Earned Income Tax Credits coming your way; you’ll lose those with $76k joint income and MFJ.
Further, your HoH standard deduction plus Single will be higher than the MFJ deduction.
As noted, I’d run the numbers both ways but for tax year 2025 it may be more advantageous to do HoH/Single and then get married on New Year’s Day. Contact a CPA for details.
As for tax year 2026, that advantage goes away since it sounds like you won’t have any income (thus no EITC and you can’t take advantage of a standard deduction). At that point it is advantageous to file MFJ.
Congrats, and good luck!
With the info you provided, [this calculator](https://www.calculator.net/marriage-calculator.html?csalaryincome=50%2C000&csalaryincome2=26%2C000&cinterestincome=0&cinterestincome2=0&crentalincome=0&crentalincome2=0&cshortcapitalgain=0&cshortcapitalgain2=0&clongcapitalgain=0&clongcapitalgain2=0&cqualifieddividends=0&cqualifieddividends2=0&c401k=&c401k2=&cfilestatus=Single&cfilestatus2=Single&callowance=1&callowance2=2&cstandarddeduction1=yes&ctotaldeduction=0&cstandarddeduction21=yes&ctotaldeduction2=0&cstatetax=5&cstatetax2=5&cadditionat1=no&cadditionat21=no&printit=0&x=Calculate) indicates that you won’t benefit from filing jointly.
Where I live, there are some free financial advice charities which I would tell you to make an appointment with and get more specific, tailored advice. I am not sure what is available in your area.
Another factor is that right now you are $0 income and would qualify for some public services which you would not qualify for as a married couple. In my area some of these services would still be available because your combined income is still well below the median, and I would advise you to meet with a county social worker to find out what is available.
It could be close but without having next year’s numbers in front of me I think the commenters are right. You get EIC for your two. He gets Head of household (a baby born any time during the year is treated as living there the full year) and child tax credit for the baby.