For many of the same reasons some folks turn sour on estate planning and never make their wishes known, many couples may avoid the important steps needed to plan for the eventual passing of one spouse because it’s an unpleasant topic.
In many cases, however, a widower can suffer a significant increase in taxes while also having to depend on less benefit income.But with some planning, the consequences can be mitigated, as this post from FI Physician explains.
Yes, in general, widows pay more taxes once their spouse dies. This is due to the standard deduction being cut in half when you file as a single taxpayer, compared to using married filing jointly, because of the compression in tax brackets.
For instance, the top of the 12% tax bracket is $41,775 when you are single and twice that ($83,550) when you are married filing jointly. This means you will pay an extra 10% for the second $41,775 the year after you suffer the loss of a spouse.
– A decrease in Social Security and a possible increase in how much your Social Security benefit is taxed– Decreased standard deduction– An increase in your marginal and effective tax rates- etc.