Jest so 2

[jainen]

This is a socially “liberal” town and we don’t see a lot of newlyweds, so I was pleased when one of my clients brought his new family to the tax interview.

I routinely asked the spouse if she had notified Social Security of her name change. “”Well, no,” she objected. “I’m keeping my maiden name so I’ll continue to file my own taxes under that.” I told her that the name was no problem and it would still be best to use Married Filing Joint status.

Now it was the gentleman’s turn to object. “We have already agreed that I am Head of Household.” I started to explain what that means for tax purposes, but he went right on. “It means I am responsible for all the major family decisions, while my wife takes care of the minor issues.”

Marriage counseling is a little outside my job description so I didn’t want to appear to be endorsing one side or the other. I turned to his better half to ascertain if she had a similar understanding of the family dynamic. “Oh yes!” she purred sweetly. “It’s working perfectly, and so far we haven’t had any “major” issues….”

[zeke]

This is a socially “liberal” town and we don’t see a lot of newlyweds, so I was pleased when one of my clients brought his new family to the tax interview.

I routinely asked the spouse if she had notified Social Security of her name change. “”Well, no,” she objected. “I’m keeping my maiden name so I’ll continue to file my own taxes under that.” I told her that the name was no problem and it would still be best to use Married Filing Joint status.

Now it was the gentleman’s turn to object. “We have already agreed that I am Head of Household.” I started to explain what that means for tax purposes, but he went right on. “It means I am responsible for all the major family decisions, while my wife takes care of the minor issues.”

Marriage counseling is a little outside my job description so I didn’t want to appear to be endorsing one side or the other. I turned to his better half to ascertain if she had a similar understanding of the family dynamic. “Oh yes!” she purred sweetly. “It’s working perfectly, and so far we haven’t had any “major” issues….”

If he had taken her name, who would have been the spouse????

[kcjenkins]

Thanks for the laugh, Jainen. Of course, had that joke been a 'true' story, then their filing status would have just become a 'major issue', once you told them it's not THEIR choice how to file, except MFJ or MFS. LOL.