Before a single number goes on a return, the return has to say what kind of household it is for. That is filing status. It controls the tax brackets applied to your income, the size of your standard deduction, and whether you are allowed to claim several credits at all. Choosing the wrong one is one of the most common errors we correct on returns that were prepared elsewhere.
December 31 decides it
Your marital status on the last day of the year is your marital status for the whole year. Married on December 30, you are married for the entire tax year. Divorced with a final decree on December 31, you are unmarried for the entire year. A separation without a final decree of divorce or separate maintenance still counts as married, no matter how long you have lived apart, with one exception covered below.
The five statuses
- Single: unmarried at year end and not qualifying for head of household or qualifying surviving spouse.
- Married filing jointly: one return for both spouses, combining all income and deductions. Both spouses are responsible for the whole tax bill, including anything later found to be owed.
- Married filing separately: each spouse files their own return. This usually produces more total tax and blocks several credits, but it can be right when one spouse has liabilities the other should not share.
- Head of household: unmarried, or treated as unmarried, and keeping up a home for a qualifying person. Lower rates and a larger standard deduction than single.
- Qualifying surviving spouse: available for the two years following a spouse's death when you have a dependent child at home, using the same brackets as a joint return.
Head of household is not just being a single parent
This is the status people claim most often without meeting the tests. Three things are required at once. You must be unmarried on December 31, or married but living apart from your spouse for the entire last six months of the year with a qualifying child at home. You must have paid more than half the cost of keeping up the home for the year: rent or mortgage, utilities, groceries eaten at home, repairs and insurance. And a qualifying person must have lived with you for more than half the year. A dependent parent is the one exception to the living-with-you rule, as long as you paid more than half the cost of their home.
Two adults in the same home cannot both be head of household for the same household. One of them paid more than half, or neither did.
Married couples in Texas sometimes file as two singles or two heads of household to get a bigger refund. That is not a strategy; it is a false return, and the credits it produces can be taken back with penalties years later. Joint or separate are the only options for a married couple living together.
Joint or separate: how we decide
For most married couples, filing jointly produces the lower total tax and keeps every credit available. We look at filing separately when one spouse has back taxes, defaulted student loans or child support arrears that would swallow a joint refund, when one spouse has large medical expenses relative to their own income, or when one spouse simply does not want to be liable for the other's business. When the numbers are close we run the return both ways.
Frequently asked questions
My spouse lives in Mexico and has no Social Security number. Can we file jointly?
It can be done. A nonresident spouse can be treated as a resident for tax purposes by election, which requires an ITIN application and reporting the spouse's worldwide income. Whether that helps depends on the numbers, and it is a decision to make with us rather than by default.
We separated in March but are not divorced. What do I file?
If a child lived with you and your spouse was out of the home for all of July through December, you may qualify as head of household. Otherwise you are married and choose between joint and separate.
Can I change my filing status after I file?
Usually yes, by amending. The one direction that is generally locked is going from a joint return to separate returns after the due date has passed.
Ask before you file
Filing status is a five-minute conversation that can change the whole return. Call (432) 257-7547 or come by 700 C Andrews Hwy in Midland. We work in English and Spanish.
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