Married Tax - Joint or Single Assesment

Hi,

I recently got married and am trying to figure out what we should do with our tax credits. I looked at the revenue website but it doesn't seem very clear to me. I earn 48k, my wife 32k. Would we be any better off by having our earning jointly assessed or should we continue as we are?
We pay both sets of wages into a joint account so it wouldn't matter if one of our wages decreased as long as the others increased by more.

joint assessment would be better as your wife will not be earning enough to fully utilise the single person's standard rate cut off point.

I heard on radio if both earning the same........seperate asssessment, if one person is earning more let the person with higher earnings have the tax credits. The tax office are very good to give advise on this.

It depends on how much you both earn in relation to the SRCOP See here

The figures refer to 2006 but the principal remains the same
SRCOP in 2009
36,400 for a single person
45,400 for a married couple with one income
72,800 for a married couple two income

thanks for the feedback - helps clarify things.