Bloomberg Law, SALT Cap Has Couples Ditching Marriage to Save $20,000 in Taxes:

A quirk of the new tax code means [couples] could potentially deduct twice as much from their income if they were to legally split up and file their taxes as singles.

President Donald Trump’s tax cuts last year increased the limit on state and local tax deductions — SALT, for short — to $40,000 from $10,000. Americans who itemized their deductions were able to subtract as much as $40,000 paid in property taxes and state and local income taxes from their 2025 adjusted gross income, meaning they owed federal taxes on fewer dollars.

The catch is that the SALT cap is the same for a single filer or a married couple, an aspect of the law that critics refer to as a marriage penalty. …

It may not be the most romantic way to talk about your relationship status, but the new SALT rules are prompting some high-earning couples to run the numbers on marriage. The SALT cap has become fodder for Reddit threads, where users swap detailed calculations.

Many would recoil at letting the tax code shape such a personal commitment. Others say it’s worthwhile to delay weddings for the savings or look for alternatives like domestic partnerships that preserve some of the legal protections of marriage without triggering its federal tax treatment.

The math may not be as straightforward as some people think, and accountants urge couples to consider the financial and legal tradeoffs carefully.

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