Taxes

Looking for name change advice or some tips for newlywed life? The MissNowMrs experts have created state-specific name change articles and checklists for you. We’ve chronicled our recommendations for how to travel while changing your name AND how to handle voting during the transition.

We’ve also compiled our best guidance for how to handle difficult sister in laws, holidays as newlyweds, the ever-annoying baby questions, and much more. Why? Because, while we are name change experts, we’re also newlywed wives, moms, and sisters.

We hope our name change advice articles help smooth your transition to your new name, and a whole new phase of life. Congratulations and best wishes from the entire MissNowMrs team!

Taxes And Married Name Change

Taxes and married name change… talk about combining the bad with the good! As you encounter tax season as a newlywed, name change becomes a factor. Whether you file taxes separately or jointly, or if you changed your name after marriage there are forms to be filed and things to be considered in relation to your taxes and the IRS.

Guess what? You don’t have to call the IRS to discuss how your married name change impacts your taxes. The name change experts at MissNowMrs created this video to clue you in! Watch for 2 minutes you’ll know everything you need to know to filing confidently. AND, we even threw in a little relationship tip regarding how to handle tax returns as newlyweds!

5 Reasons to Take Your New Married Name in the New Year

Ready to take your new married name in the New Year? We’re twelve days into January, and sadly many newlyweds’ New Year’s resolutions are already falling by the wayside. Did you resolve to change your maiden name after getting married? That’s one resolution that should be easy to keep and there are many benefits to changing to your married name in the beginning of the year.

Take Advantage of Available Options – Not all states allow all variations of married name change (ex: Ohio doesn’t allow maiden to middle name change). If plan to change your name, the sooner you begin the transition, the more options you’ll have as most states make legislature changes in early spring. It would be terrible to decide upon a specific married last name combination and find out that you missed your chance in your state by a few weeks.

Travel – Thinking about booking a trip for Spring Break or over the summer? Now is the time to apply for a new passport in your married name. The State Department is taking ~5 weeks to issue new passports, and you’ll need your new passport number before you book your flights somewhere warm! The other reason to get a new passport now? You’ll get to keep track of all of your trips as a Mrs. instead of having them split between two books.

Taxes – No one wants to think about taxes, but changing your name in the beginning of the year will make filing taxes under your new name much simpler next year. After working a full year as a Mrs, your accountant will thank you and you won’t have to stress about which amounts were made under which name.

Employment Ease – Employers need to be notified of married name changes and if that notification comes in the new year, odds are in your favor that you’ll get prompt attention from HR, new business cards, email etc before everyone is bogged down with projects. Another pro: you’ll receive credit in your new name. As someone who received a president’s club trophy and trip in a hyphenated name (as HR guessed)…I really wish I had notified them of my new non-hyphenated last name in the New Year!

Now or Never – Name change is one of those life changes that fall into the now or never category. The sooner you start the married name change process the sooner it will be finished and you’ll be an official Mrs. The longer you wait, the more your maiden name gets attached to important things like leases, mortgages, degrees, etc. and the harder it becomes to make the switch to a new last name.

If your New Year’s resolution was to change your name, hopefully these five benefits give you the boost you need to start the process. MissNowMrs is an easy online name change service that will streamline the paperwork and pain from 13 hours into 30 minutes for $29.95. How’s that for a great deal and a way to ensure you check that particular resolution off your list?!

The IRS 8822 Form: To File or Not to File

Do you know about the IRS 8822 form? Newlywed and exploring the idea of name change? Now is the perfect time to make the transition to Mrs.! If you file for your Social Security card and alert the Internal Revenue Service to your new name via the IRS 8822 form prior to December 31st, you can use your new married name on your taxes. No one wants to think about mundane things like taxes in the warm glow of newlywed bliss. But, taxes and impending tax season are a reality.

It’s free to file the IRS 8822 form. So, there is no reason to skip it when you change your name! The form title may read “Change of Address”, but if you read the fine print, it also serves as a notification form for name change. Is filing the IRS 8822 required? No, but we consider it a CYA form. You answer 7 questions and mail the form in, and that will ensure that the IRS knows of your new married name prior to tax season. The alternative is to not file the form and hope the Social Security Administration alerts the IRS to your new name.

If there is any confusion about your name, your tax returns will be held until the IRS sorts out the matter (and we all know how fast government offices are). So, when in doubt, file the free form! If you have questions about how to answer some of the IRS 8822 questions, which are tricky, you can always call or email the MissNowMrs name change experts.

Did you file the IRS 8822 when you changed your name? If you didn’t, did you run into any snafus during tax season? Let us know in a comment!

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?