MYTH: MARRIED PEOPLE MUST FILE A JOINT RETURN
It is often a good idea for married people to file jointly, but there’s no rule that says they must. Filing jointly means a bonus if there is a big disparity in income, Business Insider says, or if joint income is less than about $150,000. Once taxpayers get above that level, there is actually a penalty for filing jointly, because they get pushed into another tax bracket.
There are other scenarios in which filing separately is a better deal, such as when one spouse has a lot of medical deductions, TurboTax says.
