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Hi all, I am starting a job as an attending with 265k salary and no debt. My spouse is still in residency with a resident salary and student loans that he is on PSLF for. His repayment plan is PAYE and we have been filing our taxes married filing separately since we have both been in residency. I wanted to get thoughts on how best to file taxes as a new attending/resident family (no kids, renting home, no credit card or other debts). Here is a breakdown of me doing the numbers:
Current scenario while both in residency and do taxes married filing separately
Spouse 1:
salary- 70k
fed tax bracket- 22%
student loans- 200k
repayment plan (PAYE)- 300 per month
Spouse 2
salary- 70k
fed tax bracket- 22%
student loans- none
Now spouse 2 is going to start an attending job while spouse 1 remains in residency. While we are contributing to Roth IRA/403/457/HSA, for the sake of the situation, I will omit to keep everything simple.
Scenario A: file taxes married jointly
Spouse 1:
salary- 70k
fed tax bracket- 24%
student loans- 200k
repayment plan (REPAYE)- 2500 per month
Spouse 2:
salary- 265k
fed tax bracket- 24%
student loans- none
Total taxes paid: 80,880
Total student loans paid: 30,000
Total: 110,800
Scenario B: file taxes married file separately
Spouse 1:
salary- 70k
fed tax bracket- 22%
student loans- 200k
repayment plan (PAYE)- 300 per month
Spouse 2:
salary- 265k
fed tax bracket- 35%
student loans- none
Total taxes paid: 107,400
Total student loans paid: 3600
Total: 111,000
I am leaning towards filing jointly as this seems a win-win. Not only do we have the potential to save more if loans continue in forbearance. But because he is in PSLF, those monthly payments count towards his PSLF "credits". I feel that in this scenario, the worst that could happen is that we have to pay the loans because forbearance ends and end up paying around the same as if we were filing married separately. Am I missing something obvious? I just don't want to screw ourselves and end up paying more.
Current scenario while both in residency and do taxes married filing separately
Spouse 1:
salary- 70k
fed tax bracket- 22%
student loans- 200k
repayment plan (PAYE)- 300 per month
Spouse 2
salary- 70k
fed tax bracket- 22%
student loans- none
Now spouse 2 is going to start an attending job while spouse 1 remains in residency. While we are contributing to Roth IRA/403/457/HSA, for the sake of the situation, I will omit to keep everything simple.
Scenario A: file taxes married jointly
Spouse 1:
salary- 70k
fed tax bracket- 24%
student loans- 200k
repayment plan (REPAYE)- 2500 per month
Spouse 2:
salary- 265k
fed tax bracket- 24%
student loans- none
Total taxes paid: 80,880
Total student loans paid: 30,000
Total: 110,800
Scenario B: file taxes married file separately
Spouse 1:
salary- 70k
fed tax bracket- 22%
student loans- 200k
repayment plan (PAYE)- 300 per month
Spouse 2:
salary- 265k
fed tax bracket- 35%
student loans- none
Total taxes paid: 107,400
Total student loans paid: 3600
Total: 111,000
I am leaning towards filing jointly as this seems a win-win. Not only do we have the potential to save more if loans continue in forbearance. But because he is in PSLF, those monthly payments count towards his PSLF "credits". I feel that in this scenario, the worst that could happen is that we have to pay the loans because forbearance ends and end up paying around the same as if we were filing married separately. Am I missing something obvious? I just don't want to screw ourselves and end up paying more.
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