Filling a Joint Tax - knowing how much each one of us is owed what

[gomes + MF 3]

I will be working on our taxes in the next couple of weeks: this will be the second year filling a joint tax with my wife (already has GC based on the k1 visa), but in 2018 she had no job/income since she didn’t have a work permit until 2019.
She had an income through jobs for the majority of 2019, but I've found out that when you file the joint taxes the IRS won’t split or let me know how much money is owed back to each one of us based on each of our incomes/student loan payments/health insurances/etc. In other words, it will just give a lump sum.

 

Is there a way to find out what portion of the return is owed to who?

We’ll probably put it on our joint savings but would very helpful to get that information before hand since our incomes and job types are very different.

 

thanks!!

[cd37 229]

Hhmm strange question, whats the purpose of knowing amount who owes what ? You are filling jointly and getting standard deduction jointly then not sure why you need thos info. I dont think you can know this.

[Wuozopo 4,285]

2 hours ago, gomes + MF said:

I will be working on our taxes in the next couple of weeks: this will be the second year filling a joint tax with my wife (already has GC based on the k1 visa), but in 2018 she had no job/income since she didn’t have a work permit until 2019.
She had an income through jobs for the majority of 2019, but I've found out that when you file the joint taxes the IRS won’t split or let me know how much money is owed back to each one of us based on each of our incomes/student loan payments/health insurances/etc. In other words, it will just give a lump sum.

 

Is there a way to find out what portion of the return is owed to who?

We’ll probably put it on our joint savings but would very helpful to get that information before hand since our incomes and job types are very different.

 

thanks!!

I would say if you can’t even share a joint refund with your wife without squabbling over what’s my share, then each of you should file Married Filing Separately. Then you can keep your finances separate. 

[yuna628 9,530]

You file jointly as a married couple, thus you get a lump sum. Why do you need to split up that amount if it's going into your joint savings anyway? I'd say most couples commingle their finances unless there is a specific concern and make decisions together how and when to spend it.

[gomes + MF 3]

Well the answer seems to be no. Of course we have our own savings, yet we also receive and spend money in our own ways. I find it odd how it wouldn't at least pinpoint the difference as individuals anyways. At the end of the day, it is a commitment of understanding what is what and agreeing/accepting the decisions in a rational way. I find it surprising how other folks just accept it blindly. That's my opinion!

[Wuozopo 4,285]

32 minutes ago, gomes + MF said:

Well the answer seems to be no. Of course we have our own savings, yet we also receive and spend money in our own ways. I find it odd how it wouldn't at least pinpoint the difference as individuals anyways. At the end of the day, it is a commitment of understanding what is what and agreeing/accepting the decisions in a rational way. I find it surprising how other folks just accept it blindly. That's my opinion!

Correct, the answer is no. All the calculations are based on family earnings and family contributions paid in through payroll withholding. If you have to know individual taxes, you have the option to file separately. 
 

You can also look at the tax tables and try to work out some estimates. They are in the 1040 instructions pdf. Each of you would reduce your income by 12400 for 2019.
 

Last year your wife’s standard deduction reduced your taxable income by $12,000. I hope you gave her part of the extra refund because you would have had higher taxes without her. 

Edited March 8, 2020 by Wuozopo

[US-UK 32]

I am totally on board with the separation of finances (and have one shared account to which we contribute pro rata for household expenses). I assume there’s a good financial benefit to you filing MFJ. There isn’t for us but if we did I might try to run the returns as MFS and then use those numbers to determine proportional shares. Or just use the amount of tax each partner paid (from W-2s) to calculate the proportion of who gets what back on the refund.  There isn’t a right answer but you could just agree on a calculation that is reasonable and based at least somewhat on logic.