A lot of people going through the divorce process in West Virginia have a common question when it comes to taxes. The question is if they should file a joint income tax return in the context of a divorce. The answer is yes. When you’re going through a divorce and you’re in the middle of the process, it’s usually more optimal for someone to actually file a joint tax return. All sorts of benefits exist in the law for people who file and who are married. The tax rates are different is one benefit. Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean that in all situations you’re going to be better off filing jointly. Limited situations sometimes do exist where it’s much more advantageous for someone to file separate as opposed to jointly. However, more often one is much better off filing some sort of joint return.
The best strategy may be to go to a CPA or the person who typically prepares taxes and running the numbers to see whether it’s going to be more advantageous to file jointly as opposed to separately. The courts will typically take any money that you have coming from filing a joint return and split it in half. Sometimes that is not going to be the case. There could be an offset because of bills that are paid or need to be. For example, if somebody is a little bit behind in child support that’s going to have to be paid up. It could be that one person doesn’t necessarily get all of the check, but all things being equal, what’s going to happen is that check is going to be split generally.
You want to make sure you consult with your tax professional that you have to see what’s going to be the better option when filing taxes. It’s important to be communicating openly as much as possible with your ex, unless there’s a special circumstance with your soon to be former spouse that the two of you can not get on the same page. However, if you and your ex can get on the same page, things are going to run a lot more smoothly and the divorce process most likely is going to be a lot easier for both parties.
