Episode 164: Should We Have Filing Statuses?

Happy Halloween!  No tricks this time, just a treat.

This time we have a discussion of the filing status on tax returns.  William Schmidt asks Andrew Belter – what is the need for listing whether you are married or single on the tax return?  When the tax return started, traditional values supported marriage incentives.  Now, there have been changes in society with marriages leading to separated or divorced spouses, non-traditional families, same-sex marriages and more.  Is it worth having to prove marital status when there are audits by the IRS?

In the discussion, there are mentions of the marriage penalty, differences between state and federal tax filing, inequity between what is allowed for joint and married filing separate filers, and community state tax filing.  What changes would need to be made?  What about child-related tax benefits?

Also, there is a brief discussion of cryptocurrency.

Note:  we forgot to bring up phasing out innocent spouse and injured spouse issues and filing.