Month: February 2025

Your tax filing status generally depends on being married or unmarried on the last day of the year – which means that your marital status as of December 31, 2024, determines your tax filing options for all of 2024.

For filing purposes, the IRS generally considers you as married if you are separated but not legally separated or divorced at the end of the year. Marriage status can determine filing requirements, standard deductions, eligibility for certain credits, and how you are taxed.

Here are a few things you should do if your marital status changed in 2024.

Report a name change

Report any name changes to the Social Security Administration (SSA). The name on your tax return must match what’s on file at the SSA. If the name doesn’t match, it could delay your tax refund. To update your information, go to the SSA’s website and look for “Change name with Social Security.” Name changes can also be processed by calling the SSA at 800-772-1213 or by visiting a local SSA office.

Update address

Notify the U.S. Postal Service, any employers, and the IRS of an address change.

Check withholding

A change in your marital status may also affect how much tax should be withheld from your paycheck. To avoid a surprise at tax time, you should use the IRS Tax Withholding Estimator to calculate your withholding and then use that estimate to complete a new Form W-4, Employee’s Withholding Certificate, to give to your employer. You can also use Form W-4 to tell an employer not to withhold any federal income tax. To qualify for this exempt status, you must have had no tax liability for the previous year and must expect to have no tax liability for the current year.

Review filing status

If you were newly married in 2024, you will want to review your filing status options. You can choose to file your federal income taxes jointly or separately each year, so it’s a good idea to figure the tax both ways to find out which makes the most sense. Remember that if a couple is married as of December 31, the law says that couple is married for the whole year for tax purposes.

The IRS has announced that the optional standard mileage rate for automobiles driven for business will increase by 3 cents in 2025, while the mileage rates for vehicles used for other purposes will remain unchanged from 2024.

Optional standard mileage rates are used to calculate the deductible costs of operating vehicles for business, charitable and medical purposes, as well as for active-duty members of the Armed Forces who are moving.

Beginning January 1, 2025, the standard mileage rates for the use of a car, van, pickup or panel truck will be:

• 70 cents per mile driven for business use, up 3 cents from 2024.
• 21 cents per mile driven for medical purposes, the same as in 2024.
• 21 cents per mile driven for moving purposes for qualified active-duty members of the Armed Forces, unchanged from last year.
• 14 cents per mile driven in service of charitable organizations, equal to the rate in 2024.

The rates apply to fully-electric and hybrid automobiles, as well as gasoline and diesel-powered vehicles.

While the mileage rate for charitable use is set by statute, the mileage rate for business use is based on an annual study of the fixed and variable costs of operating an automobile. The rate for medical and moving purposes, meanwhile, is based on only the variable costs from the annual study.

Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, taxpayers cannot claim a miscellaneous itemized deduction for unreimbursed employee travel expenses. And only taxpayers who are members of the military on active duty may claim a deduction for moving expenses incurred while relocating under orders to a permanent change of station.

Use of the standard mileage rates is optional. You may instead choose to calculate the actual costs of using your vehicle.

When using the standard mileage rate for a vehicle you own and use for business, you must choose to use the rate in the first year the automobile is available for business use. Then, in later years, you can choose to use the standard mileage rate or actual expenses.

If you use the standard mileage rate for a leased vehicle, you must employ that method for the entire lease period, including renewals.