My husband and I are probably going to have to pay this year, he worked a job that did not withold taxes for part of 2009, he also receive unemployment and we have dependent tax credits, but we still may have to pay. Would it benefit us to file seperately if I may be able to receive a fairly decent size return?

It is very rare that the married filing separate will yield a greater tax benefit than a married filing separate filing status. Your tax bracket would be generally higher as a married filing separate taxable. So, please file as married filing joint and if you are not convinced, try and ask your accountant to compute the tax return as married filing separate and he will be able to demonstrate to you your net tax advantage of filing married filing joint!

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