I am not a tax accountant, but I'm pretty sure that's how it works in the US. We have five filing statuses: (1) Single; (2) Married, filing jointly; (3) Married, filing seperately; (4) Head of household; (5) Widow(er) with dependent child. You choose which one best fits your description/needs for that tax year. See the IRS website for more information.
Personally, I don't see anything bad about joint filing. In some cases it's going to work out better for the couple, just like in some cases (for US taxes) it works out better to itemize rather than taking the standard deduction. I'd have a problem with it if married couples were required to file jointly, or if they couldn't change their status from year to year. But otherwise... it's like you said: many couples already pool their finances. *shrugs*
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Date: 2006-12-11 10:01 pm (UTC)Personally, I don't see anything bad about joint filing. In some cases it's going to work out better for the couple, just like in some cases (for US taxes) it works out better to itemize rather than taking the standard deduction. I'd have a problem with it if married couples were required to file jointly, or if they couldn't change their status from year to year. But otherwise... it's like you said: many couples already pool their finances. *shrugs*