Tax question

Originally Posted by ChrisSlicks

Claim 00 if you have no dependents and no mortgage. If you claim 01 and have no state deductions you will get screw-ed over.

Being married doesn't get you any tax breaks unless you start reproducing, and believe me that will cost you a whole lot more in the long run. Most of the deductions for married filing jointly are simply double what the single person deductions are. The main benefit is if your spouse is making less money then you effectively are "averaging out" your 2 incomes for tax purposes. Besides tax the only other financial benefit of being married is that you are only making one rent/mortgage payment.

In the long run being married costs you a lot more than being single, first you have to pay for the wedding, the honeymoon, and 7 years later there is a 50% chance that you have to pay for the divorce and several years of alimony. So the moral of that little story is don't do it, unless you are 100% sure that it is Mrs Right and you are willing to work on it staying that way.

Oh, and yes, you can deduct any sales (and excise) taxes that you payed on your car. The program should have explicitly asked you that question unless you filed 1040EZ.