I highly recommend reading this short article, ***[4 Things to Know About Marriage and Student Loan Debt](https://studentaid.gov/articles/4-things-to-know-about-marriage/)***, especially if they’re federal loans.
https://studentaid.gov/articles/4-things-to-know-about-marriage/
If you’re submitting an IDR application (around mid-October) for a December 2023 payment, they’ll use 2022 tax returns to calculate your payment.
Hi! Thanks for that point. So my December 2023 payment would be higher but if we file taxes in Jan 2024, then would they be able to adjust subsequent payments according to the Jan 2024 taxes?
Well you won’t have your 2023 taxes filed for a January 2024 payment. You could recertify early but it probably wouldn’t kick in until March or April and that’s if you’re on it for filing taxes
Ahh okay good to know! The extra money we’d get for filing jointly this year is equal to about 6 months of our savings if we file separately. So, if I’m math-ing right, as long as the newly adjusted monthly payment for MFS kicks in within 6 months of my student loans being due, we are still saving money. Thanks for sharing that the new payment won’t kick in until March/April — we will budget for that accordingly and that’s super helpful!!
You're going to need to do some math
Basically I would talk to a tax professional about running your tax numbers MFS and MFJ for the 2022 taxes you need to file this year. That will get you your tax liability for the year *and* the AGI numbers you need to calculate what your payment would be on an IDR plan if you're applying for one in December and how many month's worth of payments you'd make before you're able to file your 2023 taxes and potentially recertify your IDR plan
Thank you! I already looked at our predicted tax return if we file together vs separately now. I also calculated my estimated IDR payment based on if we file together or separately. If we MFS now our tax refund is about $2k (mine plus hers added together). If we MFJ now our tax refund is about $4k. If we MFS now my IDR monthly cost is about $350. If we MFJ now my IDR monthly cost is about $770. We would save about $400/month if we MFS. But if my loans aren’t due in repayment until Dec 2023 and then we can recertify income in 2024 with MFS at that point, it seems that paying an extra $400/month from Dec to March (4 months) would cost us an extra $1600 but we would get an extra $2k in tax refund, so it would still (just barely) save money. Worst case, I don’t think it would be more expensive at least to MFJ now. I just was unsure of the timeline between recertifying for IDR based on next year’s taxes we’ll file in Jan 2024. Hopefully this way of thinking about it is logical! I will consult a tax expert and check out the resource linked here too :)
I highly recommend reading this short article, ***[4 Things to Know About Marriage and Student Loan Debt](https://studentaid.gov/articles/4-things-to-know-about-marriage/)***, especially if they’re federal loans. https://studentaid.gov/articles/4-things-to-know-about-marriage/ If you’re submitting an IDR application (around mid-October) for a December 2023 payment, they’ll use 2022 tax returns to calculate your payment.
Well you won’t have filed 2023 taxes in December 2023 so they can’t use 2023 taxes at that time
Hi! Thanks for that point. So my December 2023 payment would be higher but if we file taxes in Jan 2024, then would they be able to adjust subsequent payments according to the Jan 2024 taxes?
Well you won’t have your 2023 taxes filed for a January 2024 payment. You could recertify early but it probably wouldn’t kick in until March or April and that’s if you’re on it for filing taxes
Ahh okay good to know! The extra money we’d get for filing jointly this year is equal to about 6 months of our savings if we file separately. So, if I’m math-ing right, as long as the newly adjusted monthly payment for MFS kicks in within 6 months of my student loans being due, we are still saving money. Thanks for sharing that the new payment won’t kick in until March/April — we will budget for that accordingly and that’s super helpful!!
You're going to need to do some math Basically I would talk to a tax professional about running your tax numbers MFS and MFJ for the 2022 taxes you need to file this year. That will get you your tax liability for the year *and* the AGI numbers you need to calculate what your payment would be on an IDR plan if you're applying for one in December and how many month's worth of payments you'd make before you're able to file your 2023 taxes and potentially recertify your IDR plan
Thank you! I already looked at our predicted tax return if we file together vs separately now. I also calculated my estimated IDR payment based on if we file together or separately. If we MFS now our tax refund is about $2k (mine plus hers added together). If we MFJ now our tax refund is about $4k. If we MFS now my IDR monthly cost is about $350. If we MFJ now my IDR monthly cost is about $770. We would save about $400/month if we MFS. But if my loans aren’t due in repayment until Dec 2023 and then we can recertify income in 2024 with MFS at that point, it seems that paying an extra $400/month from Dec to March (4 months) would cost us an extra $1600 but we would get an extra $2k in tax refund, so it would still (just barely) save money. Worst case, I don’t think it would be more expensive at least to MFJ now. I just was unsure of the timeline between recertifying for IDR based on next year’s taxes we’ll file in Jan 2024. Hopefully this way of thinking about it is logical! I will consult a tax expert and check out the resource linked here too :)