There’s a ticking time bomb in our federal and state income tax laws. And this time bomb virtually guarantees most individuals will see their annual income tax increase by $5000 or more! In many cases, you could pay significantly more income tax each year than you paid annually during your spouse’s lifetime. These additional taxes will be paid primarily in years after age 60 and in retirement.
So, should Americans living on a fixed income, in years when their incomes are lower than in their peak working years, face a significant tax increase only because of the death of their spouse? In addition to the higher tax bills during these same years as a result of the death of a spouse, these same individuals (all surviving spouses) may also be subject to paying additional dollars each year in Medicare premiums.
US Census statistics regarding widows and widowers show the majority of Americans (all surviving spouses) will pay these additional taxes and additional Medicare premiums. Not for just one or two years, but for a decade or more until they too pass away.
Do our legislators really intend to increase the taxes and Medicare premiums of widows and widowers?
The Statistics
The US Census Bureau reports that more than 3 in 4 Americans between the ages of 35 and 75 are married. US Census Bureau statistics also show that the surviving spouse will live on average another 10 years. And some surviving spouses will live 30 additional years. You can do the math: $5000 or more in annual additional taxes for 10, 20 or even 30 years.
This all occurs at a time when a person’s income is lower than in their working years. It also occurs when other living costs are higher due to being a household of one rather than two individuals. These additional taxes and additional Medicare premiums are designed into our Federal and our State income tax systems.
How the System Is Designed
Currently, one files their taxes either as Married, Married Filing Separately, Head of Household, Single, or Qualifying Widow(er). The current problem is this: Qualifying widow or widower status is only available for the first two years.
I recommend you search “federal tax rate schedules” or “federal tax tables” and calculate your own income tax using your prior year tax return “taxable income.” Then compare your tax under the “Married Filing Jointly” status to your tax as if you were required to file under the “Single” tax. This will approximate the additional tax for your family based upon your income if one spouse were to pass away.
There are other aspects to the tax laws that drive your “Single” status tax higher. However, they’re too complex to discuss in this article. Suffice it to say that if you use the standard deduction – like most Americans do – and use your personal exemptions (on state tax returns) you’ll quickly see that you’ll be paying more income tax than you previously paid. In fact, many of you will pay much more than $5000 in additional tax each year.
In regards to Medicare, we’re means-tested from our tax return in order to determine our monthly premium. This is withheld in most cases from your social security check. If you search online “Medicare premium means testing” you’ll see that some of your neighbors are paying more than $500 per month in Medicare premiums, while you may be paying less than $200. each month. More importantly, after a spouse passes away the survivor is often forced into paying significantly higher Medicare premiums. That’s because those premiums depend on your Federal taxable income tax in their new SINGLE FILING STATUS!
Can the Penalization of Widows and Widowers Be Easily Corrected?
So… is this an unintended consequence of our tax laws, or is it intentional? I hope it is an unintended consequence. Can this be corrected easily? Absolutely! It’s politically expedient for both political parties to correct this problem before the public is aware of the issue.
How to Fix Taxation of Widows and Widowers
We should each write our congressmen, senators and state legislators. And be sure to reference this article in your letters.
In addition, you might want to consider writing a letter to the editor of your local newspaper explaining this issue. We should recommend in our letters that this can be easily corrected by changing the “QUALIFIED WIDOW(ER)” filing status to remove the two-year sunset provision and making it available for the remainder of the survivor’s life or until they remarry.
Legislators could introduce legislation to create this new filing status for all surviving spouses age 62 or over who, at the time of their spouses passing, and who have been married for at least ten years to the deceased spouse. The bill should set the tax rate schedules, the tax tables, the standard deduction and the personal exemptions for ”QUALIFYING SURVIVING SPOUSES” at levels identical to those of “MARRIED FILING JOINTLY.” The bill should also set the Medicare premium means testing for “QUALIFYING SURVIVING SPOUSES” to be identical to the means testing for “MARRIED FILING JOINTLY.”
And for fun, recommend that the tax law be named: “The Fortunato – Camporeale Qualifying Surviving Spouse Tax Act”
Photo Credit: DonkeyHotey