MFJ vs MFS Federal Tax Comparison

Estimate the federal tax cost of filing Married Filing Separately vs. Jointly. Use this to weigh against your IDR payment savings under PSLF.

1Situation Setup

2Dollar Inputs

3Results

Household

Yes, we live in a community property state

In community property states (AZ, CA, ID, LA, NV, NM, TX, WA, WI; AK opt-in), most income earned during marriage is jointly owned. When filing separately, each spouse reports half of all community income — regardless of who earned it. This tool applies a simplified 50/50 split to all reported income.

How many years to project?

We have qualifying children under 17

How many qualifying children?

We would itemize deductions (rather than take the standard deduction)

What applies to each spouse?

Check all that apply. Only relevant input fields will appear in the next step.

Spouse A (You / Borrower)

Has W-2 wage income Has investment income Makes pre-tax retirement contributions Makes HSA contributions Pays student loan interest Paying education expenses (AOTC-eligible)

Spouse B

Has W-2 wage income Has investment income Makes pre-tax retirement contributions Makes HSA contributions Pays student loan interest Paying education expenses (AOTC-eligible)

Annual Inputs

Annual raise % (applied to wages)

Wages auto-increment each year. Override individual years as needed.

Child Allocation for MFS

Under MFS, which spouse claims the children? (Note: CTC is generally lost under MFS regardless, but this helps model other dependent-related items.)

Spouse A claims children

Spouse B claims children