Should my wife start working in December or in January
My wife got a job offer and we need to decide if tax-wise it's better for her to start in December 2019 or January 2020. Does her status of being employed or unemployed as of December 31st affect taxes in any way? Assuming that we file a joint return, I don't care about W4 (withholding) but only about actual tax due and that my wife's income is expected to be close to [CO]?
Or, in other words: assuming I get 0k/year and my wife is unemployed vs. I get k/year and my wife get's k/year. Will we pay the same amount of taxes in these two cases (again W4 is not an issue here)
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If you and your wife file as married filing jointly, the only difference her starting date (2019 or 2020) will make in your Federal Income Tax is that the two of you will have more income in 2019 because she started in 2019. And, note: the pertinent date is not when she started her job, but when she received her first paycheck. State Income Taxes are often tied to Federal Income Tax so there is unlikely to be any difference in your State Income Tax.
As one of the commenters noted, there might be a difference in eventual Social Security benefits, but it is likely to be zero to small. Factors to consider are how many (if any) quarters of SS she has already paid, how long she plans on working, whether she is on a career path that will lead to a significant increase in earnings, and how old you both are. But, truly, unless you enjoy doing the numbers (or are close to retirement age), I doubt that it is worth running hypothetical scenarios.
You may want to find out if there are company benefits that vest after a certain time, and if so, whether starting a month earlier makes sense.
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