Melvin and Sylvia are married with no children, and they're filing their federal income tax return. Melvin had a gross income of $44,500 last year, while Sylvia had a gross income of $51,200, and they plan to use the standard deduction. They're trying to decide whether to file their return jointly or separately, so they want to calculate how much less they would pay in federal income taxes if they filed jointly rather than separately.

Part I: When filing separately, both Melvin and Sylvia have a standard deduction of $5700, and each can claim him/herself as an exemption for $3650. Neither has any additional adjustments to income. What is Melvin's taxable income? How about Sylvia's taxable income?

Question

Terrence Nunez

Mathematics

2 August, 09:47

Melvin and Sylvia are married with no children, and they're filing their federal income tax return. Melvin had a gross income of $44,500 last year, while Sylvia had a gross income of $51,200, and they plan to use the standard deduction. They're trying to decide whether to file their return jointly or separately, so they want to calculate how much less they would pay in federal income taxes if they filed jointly rather than separately.

Part I: When filing separately, both Melvin and Sylvia have a standard deduction of $5700, and each can claim him/herself as an exemption for $3650. Neither has any additional adjustments to income. What is Melvin's taxable income? How about Sylvia's taxable income?

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Reed · Answer 1

add standard deduction and exemption: 5700 + 3650 = 9350

subtract from each of their incomes and that will be the taxable income:

Melvin: 44500 - 9350 = 35150 taxable income

Sylvia: 51200 - 9350 = 41850 taxable income