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I'm the spouse of an MS4. We are working on our taxes for this year and trying to figure out the best strategy to not kill ourselves on IBR. Currently, running the numbers for Married Filling Sep vs Married Filing Joint, we come out to close to a $5000 difference. I would owe filing separate, and we would receive a very large refund filing joint, especially taking into account the Lifetime Learning Credit of $2000. The difference in our IBR payments using joint vs separate is approximately 400.
Our strategy going forward is to file jointly for this year, start IBR in December, and then in Feb of 2013, submit for an adjustment using our 2012 married filing separate returns. This way, rather than pay the addt'l 400 per month until the next review period (Dec) we can only pay it for a couple of months. I talked to Direct Loans, and they did say that any adjustment, including the filing status can be made throughout the year.
I just thought I would contribute this idea, first of all, to see if I'm overlooking anything, but also because I have combed this message board for months trying to figure out the best method. (On that note, I have gotten some AWESOME stuff here, including submitting the alternative docs for six months salary so we aren't factored in with the full year.)
Our strategy going forward is to file jointly for this year, start IBR in December, and then in Feb of 2013, submit for an adjustment using our 2012 married filing separate returns. This way, rather than pay the addt'l 400 per month until the next review period (Dec) we can only pay it for a couple of months. I talked to Direct Loans, and they did say that any adjustment, including the filing status can be made throughout the year.
I just thought I would contribute this idea, first of all, to see if I'm overlooking anything, but also because I have combed this message board for months trying to figure out the best method. (On that note, I have gotten some AWESOME stuff here, including submitting the alternative docs for six months salary so we aren't factored in with the full year.)
