Is there a certain amount of time you have to be married before you are able to file taxes together?

If you are thinking about getting married tonight or tomorrow, you should have a romantic session of estimating the tax consequences.

If your incomes are roughly equal and you don't itemize deductions, the tax consequences should be negligible.

If there is a large gap between your incomes, there will be tax savings because some of the higher income will be taxed at a lower rate.

If one of you itemizes and the other doesn't hold off until tomorrow because married couples have to do things the same way so the combined deductions will go down.

before the new year starts like it would not be good to marry today and expect a large come back.

Nope, just have to be married before midnight tonight.

Instantly

Yep! One second -- 11:59:59 PM on New Year's Eve. Or earlier.

Nope! If you were to wed 12/31 @ 11:59, then you would be required to file married on your taxes for 2007.

Not at all. As long as you married within the year, you claim for the entire year. Conversely, if you divorce on the last day of the year, you can't claim marriage for the entire year.

However, when it comes to children, you can claim a newborn (or newly adopted child) for the entire year, but if you have stepchildren, or you attain guardianship, you can only claim them if you have them for more than half the year.

No, as long as you are married on 12/31 or before, you can file a joint return for the year.

You can get married today, Dec 31, 2007 and file "Married Filing Jointly". The key date is Dec 31st of every year "What is your martial status as of Dec 31st?"