Danielle Tate

Newlywed Taxes: Name Change, Returns & Expectations

Need some help understanding newlywed taxes? It’s that time of year again…time to sort through the folders of paperwork you’ve saved and file your taxes. As you prepare to file taxes jointly or separately as a newlywed couple, there are a few things to keep in mind.

Name Change and Newlywed Taxes

If you or your spouse changed your name after your wedding, be sure to alert the Social Security office by filing the SS-5 form. When the Social Security Administration issues your new social security card in your new name, they typically alert the IRS. Here’s another article on the topic of name change and taxes as newlyweds.

Worried that your name change might slip through the cracks? File the IRS 8822 (it’s free) and you can rest assured that you’ve completely covered your name-change with the IRS. The IRS 8822 form alerts the IRS of your new name, preventing them from holding your tax returns should they be confused about your identity (yes that really happens).

Mine, Yours, Ours

As a single woman, I loved to get my tax return and put a portion in savings and then use the rest to splurge on something great! Be it a purse, furniture or a trip, my tax return sprees took some of the sting out of what I handed over to Uncle Sam. When I got married, I suddenly had someone else’s return money and ideas to deal with.

Now that you’re married, I suggest having a discussion with your spouse about what to do with your returns. If you filed together, will you both determine what to do with the lump sum? Will you split it evenly? Will you split it based on who made what? Tricky questions to answer, but much better to hash expectations and ideas out now then fight about them when the check comes in the mail.

How are you handling newlywed taxes? Have you ever had an argument about it? Have you come up with a great solution?

Newlywed Chicken: 3 Totally Different Meals Fast

You’ve heard of engagement chicken, but what about newlywed chicken? Did you envision preparing elaborate and elegant meals when you got married? Thought you’d give Martha a run for her money? Me too.

In reality, it can be very stressful to figure out what you and your spouse will eat every night all week/all month/all year. Here’s an idea that can jump-start your planning this week or rescue you when you feel uninspired or overwhelmed. A chicken is my solution. Yes, a whole roaster chicken cooked on Sunday so you have time to prepare it.

Meal 1: Roasted Chicken with Mashed Potatoes and Veggies

Roast* your chicken in the oven for the amount of time specified on the label. I suggest liberally shaking kosher salt on the inside and outside first. You can also mix crushed garlic and herbs ,such as sage and thyme, with a tablespoon of butter and slide this under the upper skin of the chicken (it’s sort of like giving it implants). This ensure a moist well-flavored chicken. While it roasts you can whip up mashed potatoes and any vegetable you have on hand. Have you heard the expression “winner winner chicken dinner”? That is how your spouse is going to feel about this classic home cooked meal!

*If you’re too busy to roast a chicken, you can put it in your crockpot for 4 hours. Just add 1 cup of chicken broth so it doesn’t stick to the bottom.

Meal 2: Layered Chicken Enchilada Bake

Shred ½ of the remaining chicken and make this quick layered chicken three cheese enchilada recipe. It takes 10 minutes to assemble and 30 minutes to bake. Blend some margaritas while it’s cooking and you’ll have an instant fiesta dinner!

Meal 3: Spicy Asian Chicken Noodle Soup

Shred the remaining newlywed chicken and use it to make Asian chicken noodle soup. If your spouse is like mine, soup doesn’t count as dinner, so you may want to make this for both of you for lunch. Here’s the recipe adapted from The Londoner Blog:
Ingredients:
Splash of sesame oil
1 garlic clove, crushed
4 spring onions, chopped
2 handfuls of shredded chicken
2.5 cups chicken stock
1 cup boiling water
Piece of ginger about the size of your thumb, thickly sliced
3/4 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp of soy sauce
1 handful fresh cilantro, chopped
1 red chili, chopped
1 can of sweet corn
1 big handful of thin noodles (I use somen noodles..but any will work)

Directions:
Put a saucepan onto medium heat and add a few splashes of sesame oil, add your garlic until it starts to sizzle. Stir it around a bit & add your spring onions. Fry until they start to soften.
Toss in the chicken and stir to make sure it gets nicely coated in the oil & garlic. Pour in your stock & boiling water. Add your ginger slices, fish sauce, soy sauce, coriander & chili. Just before it comes to the boil add your sweet corn & noodles. Boil 2 more minutes and serve immediately.

So, from one newlywed chicken on Sunday you ended up with 3 completely diffent meals for the two of you. Not a bad way to begin the week! It took me longer than I care to admit to figure out how to utilize one ingredient a few different ways to make quick and interesting dinners for 2. I also thew out a lot of leftovers and felt badly about it.

I hope you and your spouse enjoy these dishes and that he washes them!

Passport Name Change: Filing Secrets

Pssst we have passport name change filing secrets for you. Ready to change to your married name on your U.S. passport? After you complete your DS-82, DS-5504 or DS-11 form, have your new photos taken (hopefully they turn out lovely) and collect all of the supporting documents you need to file with, it’s time to mail the whole kit n caboodle to the State Department. Feeling a little nervous about mailing in your current passport? That’s completely natural.

Here’s the secret to problem free passport filing: send your envelope via USPS Priority Mail. FedEx and UPS will not deliver to a PO address, and that is exactly what the State Department address is. If you use one of those companies to ship your passport envelope, it will be returned to you as undeliverable.

This is bad for a few reasons. One, you’ve delayed the processing of your passport several days. Two, you’re out the money you spent to ship your envelope and must now go to the post office and pay their shipping fee. Finally, your passport envelope may be left on your front porch or out in the open where someone could walk away with it…scary!

Once you’ve mailed your envelope via USPS, you can rest assured that it will be delivered to the State Department and your new passport with your new married name will be created and mailed back to you within 5 weeks. Now you can start planning a fantastic trip to christen your new passport! Let us know where you’re headed now that you have our passport name change filing secrets.

Kitchen Chaos: Newlywed in the Kitchen

Newlywed kitchen chaos happens. Everyone needs to and typically loves to eat. Getting married and cooking together should be no big deal right?

There are all sorts of hang ups and stigmas that can appear once you’re married and sharing a kitchen. There are the sexist concepts from long ago, such as a woman’s place is in the kitchen or barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen depending on who you’re speaking with. There is also what you consider normal kitchen roles based on both of your childhood observations of parents. Add busy work schedules into the mix and you could be headed into kitchen chaos.

My newlywed kitchen chaos was 100% my own creation. My husband walked in the door on a Friday night to find me face down, crying on the carpet. After pulling a 60 hour work week I was frustrated that the roasted chicken wasn’t going to be ready the moment he came home from work. He calmly took me out for Chinese and got to the root of the problem: I was trying to be my mom. She is an amazing cook and always had a gourmet dinner on the table at 5:15pm. The fact I overlooked was that she was a stay at home mom and had more time to prepare family meals.

Newlyweds, learn from my mistake. Discuss which of you can actually cook (take out on plates does not count) and decide what the other spouse can do to help. If you both cook, it may be easiest to alternate nights instead of collaborating. My mother’s marinara recipe versus your Nonna’s can be one ugly argument.

Whatever kitchen formula you come up with, just make sure that it is fair to both partners and results in a meal that allows you to enjoy each other’s company and reconnect after your day.

Give We a Rest: A Guide to Maintaining Friendships Post Wedding

Your girlfriends are all happy that you’ve met the love of your life and tied the knot. Most, if not all of them, were there for your big day AND all of the days you spent planning it. Marriage changes a person, and your friends are adjusting to the new newlywed you. No need to make it harder for them.

Remember your single buds and to try not be “the nouveau newlywed.” You know, the girl who coordinates all of her outfits with her spouse, spends all of her time with him and can’t possibly have a conversation without overusing “we”. Examples: “We love that restaurant”, “We plan to move in the next few years”, “We think that you should date so and so.”

Make a point to go to brunch with the girls and listen to what is going on in their lives. Ask about their relationships and jobs. Seems simple, but in the midst of your newlywed bliss it is all too easy to skip out on all-girl outings or blabber entirely too much about how great love and marriage is (trust me they’re happy for you, but enough is enough).

Time spent and conversations had with your girlfriends are priceless. Allotting time and attention to them from the very start of your marriage will ensure that you don’t look around in two years and realize that you lost touch with the people that knew you best before “I do”. You’ll also get to smile and pass on this advice when those friends get married and can’t help the “we” speak!
Have you been caught up in “We-dom” or been guilty of it yourself? We’d love to hear all about it in a comment.