What is filing status?

For tax purposes, the IRS demands that you include your personal relationship status at the top of Federal Form 1040.
Each filing gives you with your standard deduction, which varies by tax year. Choosing the appropriate filing status is a crucial prerequisite. There are five filing statuses in total.

Filing Statuses

• Single:
  You were not married on the last day of the year and do not qualify for any other filing status; you were officially separated or widowed prior to January 1st.
• Married filing jointly:
  You were married at the end of the tax year, your spouse died during the tax year, and you did not remarry by the end of the year; or your spouse died before you filed your return.
• Married filing separately:
  If you married at the end of the tax year, both spouses must choose this status. Keep in mind that if you are married and filing separately, you must provide your spouse’s name and social security number.
• Head of Household:
  You must have an unmarried, eligible dependent. You were married but separated from your spouse (during the last six months of the tax year), or you are married to a nonresident alien.
• Qualifying widow(er) with dependent child:
  If your spouse died within the previous two tax years and you had a qualifying child as a dependent, you might have filed a joint return with your spouse the year he or she died, even if you did not.

Additional Notes

• If you are unmarried, divorced, or legally separated from your spouse and do not qualify for another filing status on the last day of the tax year, you must file your taxes as a single filer and can pay less tax.
• When you choose the Married filing separately status, you will often pay more tax than if you utilize another filing status for which you qualify.
• You also cannot claim the standard deduction if your spouse itemizes deductions.

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 6th, 2025 at 9:13 pm and is filed under Tax Related Questions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.