AboutHelen P. O`Planick, EA Expertise I am a tax professional, with experience in individual taxation. I would prefer not to answer questions about non-resident aliens or corporate taxation. Please do not ask me state related questions, unless the state is Pennsylvania. There are 42 taxing states and 42 TOTALLY different sets of state tax law.
Experience I have been preparing tax returns almost all my life. I have been in professional practice for 25 years and I am enrolled to practice before the Internal Revenue Service.
Organizations National Association of Enrolled Agents
Publications I am a prior Money Magazine Tax Test taker and have been quoted extensively in all media including monthly periodicals and books by tax authorities.
Question The new student loan repayment legislation which includes loan forgiveness after 10 years of public service has a built-in marriage penalty. For married borrowers who are both public servants using the income-based repayment plan, loan payment amounts are based on the AGI of both spouses, but the loan debt burden of only each individual UNLESS they file separately. In our case, MFS is not as beneficial and we'd pay more taxes that way. My question is, if we filed separately in order for our AGIs to be considered separately in determining our loan payments, would it be legal to change to MFJ later? Could we do that each year?
Answer You can amend to MFJ anytime within the 3 year window of amending the returns.
HOWEVER, I'm not sure if what you are planning on doing is going to be looked at as committing fraud for the repayment legislation. And I can't help you with that aspect of your question.
