Hello. I recently hired an accountant to do a tax analysis for us, but he was somewhat unclear in his responses. I am hoping a good samaritan here might be able to shed some light.
My wife and I have a six month old daughter, and also recently purchased a home four months ago. We file taxes separately for student loan purposes, to use the public service loan forgiveness program. This is because the minimum monthly payment due is based on our income (joint income if filing jointly, or just my income if we file separately). The total payment (if we filed jointly) would be prohibitive, and would also basically ensure we pay almost all of the loans back. By filing separately, we keep our monthly due much lower, and ensure that there is a lot left that will be forgiven at the end of the 10 year period (roughly $70K+).
I'm trying to figure out a few things.
1) I know only one of us gets to claim the baby on our taxes. Does it HAVE to be my wife, since she has the higher income? We would prefer for me to claim the baby (since the monthly loan payments are pegged at my AGI, anything to lower my AGI = lower monthly payment due).
2) Both of our employers offers a dependent care FSA (pre-tax deductions to use for daycare) plan. I know since we do married filing separately, the contribution limit drops from $5,000 to $2,500. Can both of us enroll independently and each withhold $2,500? Or does only one of us get to do that (presumably, the person who claims her, based on question #1 above).
3) For the mortgage interest deduction, the accountant was fairly clear that we can both claim this and just split the amount that is deducted (each claiming half of the mortgage interest paid). Just since I am already posting, I figured I would make sure that this is correct.
If there is anything else that you feel we should know, I would be expressly grateful. Thank you in advance for your time.
My wife and I have a six month old daughter, and also recently purchased a home four months ago. We file taxes separately for student loan purposes, to use the public service loan forgiveness program. This is because the minimum monthly payment due is based on our income (joint income if filing jointly, or just my income if we file separately). The total payment (if we filed jointly) would be prohibitive, and would also basically ensure we pay almost all of the loans back. By filing separately, we keep our monthly due much lower, and ensure that there is a lot left that will be forgiven at the end of the 10 year period (roughly $70K+).
I'm trying to figure out a few things.
1) I know only one of us gets to claim the baby on our taxes. Does it HAVE to be my wife, since she has the higher income? We would prefer for me to claim the baby (since the monthly loan payments are pegged at my AGI, anything to lower my AGI = lower monthly payment due).
2) Both of our employers offers a dependent care FSA (pre-tax deductions to use for daycare) plan. I know since we do married filing separately, the contribution limit drops from $5,000 to $2,500. Can both of us enroll independently and each withhold $2,500? Or does only one of us get to do that (presumably, the person who claims her, based on question #1 above).
3) For the mortgage interest deduction, the accountant was fairly clear that we can both claim this and just split the amount that is deducted (each claiming half of the mortgage interest paid). Just since I am already posting, I figured I would make sure that this is correct.
If there is anything else that you feel we should know, I would be expressly grateful. Thank you in advance for your time.
