Tax season is here! Question of filing married filing separately or jointly?

[kmccoleman]

This will be my first tax season after filing Chapter 13 solely. My husband did not file with me to preserve his security clearance. My question is should I be filing separately now since I filed bankruptcy or jointly with him even with the Chapter 13 in place? We have a few itemizations with our son's tuition costs, mortgage interest and student loan interest for my husband (mine is rolled into my plan) but we did end up owing a RIDICULOUS amount together last year because of the tax law change even though we made way less. I was told by my fairweather attorney I cannot owe during my plan because the state or the Feds could file a motion to dismiss my case because I owe outside of my plan filing and confirmation date. So maybe separating tax liability would help me in the long run since my husband makes so much on his own (he has two jobs and makes over 100K on his own).

And how would we go about dividing up the itemized deductions if we did file separately? I know there are way more concessions for married filing jointly but I can't owe and did last year to both Federal and State. Also, should I be getting a CPA to do my taxes now since the bankruptcy? I have to hand over my federal returns as part of my plan every year and I'm not sure H&R Block has the experience or expertise to do them with this new monkey wrench.

Thanks!

[justbroke]

This is a tax question that I cannot answer. You just have to run the numbers both ways (married filing single and married filing jointly) and review all the repercussions of doing that. This doesn't necessarily take a CPA but a seasoned tax preparer should be just fine.