My husband and I are filing taxes jointly for the first time, so I asked an accountant what we need to know (2024)

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• If your partner owed debt on taxes before marriage, you aren't liable for that past debt.
• It's important to fill out your tax return consistently each year — and keep your employer up to date.
• Even if you aren't the one filing taxes, you should check the return to make sure it's accurate.

Before my husband and I got married in 2021, I made something very clear to him: I wanted to keep our finances separate for as long as possible. It was important to me that we were transparent about our assets, spending, and saving habits, but I wanted to be in control of my money and leave him in control of his.

However, as the years have gone by, we've slowly started to merge some accounts. We have a joint checking and savings account to pay our bills and a credit card for daily expenses.

In 2023, when we had a baby, we started to have conversations about filing taxes together. If we continued to file taxes separately, we both couldn't claim our child as a dependent, and that could impact the amount of taxes one of us owed.

After meeting with certified public accountant Logan Allec, we realized that it was finally time to file taxes together. But before doing that this year, here are four things he said we should know and how we could prepare for our taxes.

1. Understand your partner's existing tax debt

Even though my partner and I haven't fully commingled our finances, we make it a point to be transparent about how much our credit card statements are and how much our overall network has grown or declined every month. But Allec said that another point couples should be upfront about before filing taxes together is any existing tax debt that one or both of them might have.

"If someone has tax debt before marriage, their future spouse isn't liable for that," he said. "But if the spouse with debt wants to negotiate payment plans with the IRS, filing jointly can have implications for what that could look like, and they might not qualify for lower payments because filing together shows more income."

That's why he recommended couples first start their tax conversation off with a talk about debt, such as taxes and student loans, to see if it makes sense to file separately or not.

"If the person is using an income-driven repayment plan for their taxes or federal student loan debt, it might make sense for them to continue filing separately," he said, "or else the joint income on the tax return could have an effect on their payment plans."

Plus, he said that once you file jointly, both spouses are equally liable for any new tax debt owed on that return, no matter whose fault it might be.

2. Pick whose name will appear first on the tax return

A small but important detail that Allec recommends couples clarify ahead of time is whose name will appear first on the tax return.

"It can confuse the IRS's computer systems if the order of the names switches from year to year," he said. "Pick whose name will appear first and keep it consistent from year to year."

While Allec said that this is a problem that can be fixed after the fact, it can cause issues that are a headache to fix.

"I've seen instances where payments weren't applied correctly or refunds weren't processed right because the names were in a different order from previous years on the tax return," he said.

3. Update and inform your employer

While I'm self-employed, my husband works full-time for an employer. When I shared that with Allec, he said it could be a good idea to update your W-4 form with your employer.

"This is beneficial so your employer can withhold the correct amount of tax from your paycheck based on your updated married filing jointly status," he said.

For those getting married this year, whether in January or on December 31, he also said that if you plan to file jointly in 2024, it's a good idea to update your W-4 now.

"You might as well make those withholding adjustments now to account for the fact that the IRS is going to view you as married all year," he said. "Or else your federal income tax withholdings for the year might not match your actual tax liability since your employer wasn't made aware of your updated filing status until later in the year."

4. Decide who is responsible for filing your taxes but make sure both review the tax return

Now that we're filing together, we have decisions to make, like who our accountant will be since we both use different ones, and who will be in charge of working with the accountant.

"Determine who is taking the lead on gathering the documents for your taxes or decide to work together on this," he said. "Your spouse might not know all the forms that you have to give to the IRS, so have a conversation about this beforehand, so you don't make the mistake of filing taxes for them and leaving out a 1099, or other forms, that will cost you a penalty later on."

Either way, Allec suggested that both people sit down and review the entire tax return before submitting it, since both people are liable for everything on the return.

"Once you file a joint return, both spouses are jointly liable for the tax shown on the return," he said. "If your spouse lied on the tax return and you didn't review the return but signed your name anyway, you are liable for that."

That said, if you do sign that return and later discover your spouse lied on the return, there are options available that will relieve you of responsibility for your spouse's tax errors, such as innocent spouse relief.

However, in order to obtain innocent spouse relief, Allec said that the burden of proof will fall on you to show that you didn't know about your spouse's tax errors and that you had no reason to know about them.

He also said that if you see something on the return that you know is false, like deductions that weren't real, and your partner won't fix it, you don't have to sign the return and be liable for that.

"You can file separately," he said.