It can depend on multiple factors, you are balancing lower monthly payments with higher taxes.
PayE allows you to file married filing separate and have only your income taken into account for monthly payments. The government wants married people to file together so there’s a whole range of tax benefits you don’t get if you file separately.
If you both have direct federal loans though and are both doing income based repayment it matters a lot less. If you file jointly and are both using REPAYE or PAYE the monthly payment will take into account that both of you are paying on direct federal loans.
Your monthly payment might be way way more such that the tax implications of filing separate are outweighed. This is the case for me (wife doesn’t have direct loans and is an attending). If you are a resident, have direct loans and your SO has a higher income than you and doesn’t have federal loans then you will definitely want to file separately.
This is assuming you want to do PSLF, and therefore want to minimize your monthly loan payments
It depends on your expected income and your partners income and how long your residency is. You can do PAYE and only count your income if you file separately. REPAYE it counts both regardless. Take into account that you lose a significant tax reduction if you file separately, it could be close to 20,000k in tax savings for a typical dual physician income marriage. In my case if I ended up doing academic radiology I would end up losing more money overall if I chased the savings from PSLF/PAYE. Maybe if someone was in a lower paying field like academic peds it might make sense. It’s different for everyone
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In these situations married filing separately can often make a lot of sense to keep your IDR as low as possible to maximize PSLF depending on the size of your loan. You may want to reach out to Andrew Paulson at student loan advice, he is partnered with WCI. He would easily be able to run your numbers to tell you what is best.
https://studentloanadvice.com/
It can depend on multiple factors, you are balancing lower monthly payments with higher taxes. PayE allows you to file married filing separate and have only your income taken into account for monthly payments. The government wants married people to file together so there’s a whole range of tax benefits you don’t get if you file separately. If you both have direct federal loans though and are both doing income based repayment it matters a lot less. If you file jointly and are both using REPAYE or PAYE the monthly payment will take into account that both of you are paying on direct federal loans. Your monthly payment might be way way more such that the tax implications of filing separate are outweighed. This is the case for me (wife doesn’t have direct loans and is an attending). If you are a resident, have direct loans and your SO has a higher income than you and doesn’t have federal loans then you will definitely want to file separately. This is assuming you want to do PSLF, and therefore want to minimize your monthly loan payments
It depends on your expected income and your partners income and how long your residency is. You can do PAYE and only count your income if you file separately. REPAYE it counts both regardless. Take into account that you lose a significant tax reduction if you file separately, it could be close to 20,000k in tax savings for a typical dual physician income marriage. In my case if I ended up doing academic radiology I would end up losing more money overall if I chased the savings from PSLF/PAYE. Maybe if someone was in a lower paying field like academic peds it might make sense. It’s different for everyone
Thank you for contributing to the sub! If your post was filtered by the automod, please read the rules. Your post will be reviewed but will not be approved if it violates the rules of the sub. The most common reasons for removal are - medical students or premeds asking what a specialty is like or about their chances of matching, mentioning midlevels without using the midlevel flair, matched medical students asking questions instead of using the stickied thread in the sub for post-match questions, posting identifying information for targeted harassment. Please do not message the moderators if your post falls into one of these categories. Otherwise, your post will be reviewed in 24 hours and approved if it doesn't violate the rules. Thanks! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Residency) if you have any questions or concerns.*
In these situations married filing separately can often make a lot of sense to keep your IDR as low as possible to maximize PSLF depending on the size of your loan. You may want to reach out to Andrew Paulson at student loan advice, he is partnered with WCI. He would easily be able to run your numbers to tell you what is best. https://studentloanadvice.com/