Client Information - Filing Status

What Does Filing Status Mean?

​Filing status is a category that defines the type of tax return form a taxpayer must use when filing his or her taxes.
Filing status is closely tied to marital status.

​Understanding Filing Status

​The filing status is important because an individual's tax bracket (and, therefore, the amount they must pay) is determined by marital status, the number of children, occupation, and several other factors. You must file your status honestly, or it will be considered fraudulent and penalties will be assessed.

Single

A single filer is a taxpayer that is unmarried, divorced, a registered domestic partner, or legally separated according to state law as of the last day of the tax year.

Married Person Filing Jointly or Surviving Spouse

An individual that is married by the end of the tax year can file his or her tax returns jointly with his or her spouse. When filing under married filing jointly status, couples can record their respective incomes, exemptions, and deductions on the same tax return. A joint tax return will often provide a bigger tax refund or a lower tax liability.

​Married filing jointly is best if only one spouse has a significant income. 

Married Person Filing Separate

Married filing separate is best if both spouses work and the income and itemized deductions are large and very unequal, it may be more advantageous to file separately.

Head of Household

You can file as HOH if you were unmarried and took care of a dependent, it doesn’t need to be your child to qualify for this status, qualifying relatives such as parents could let you file HOH as well when you claim them as dependents. You need to have paid more than half the cost of keeping up a home.

EXAMPLE 1: You divorce your spouse and are taking care of children, you would file as HOH.

EXAMPLE 2: You are unmarried and taking care of your kid you would file HOH.

Example 3: You are legally married to your spouse on DEC 31,2022, but you haven’t lived together in the last 6 months in 2022 and you take care of a dependent. You would file as HOH.

Qualifying Widow(er) With Dependent Child

If your spouse died in 2023, you can still file as Married Filing Jointly when you file your taxes but only for 2023. When you are filing for 2024 and 2025, and are taking care of at least one dependent child, and have not remarried, you will file as Qualifying Widow.

​This status only lasts for 2 years after the year of death so when it is April 2027 and you are filing your taxes for 2026, you can no longer use this status.

If in 2026, you are still taking care of the dependent on your own, you will file as Head of Household (HOH). These are just tips to maximize your tax refund , you can still file as Single.
Not Sure?
The IRS provides an excellent 5 minute 
​​Interactive Tax Assistant (ITA)

Contact us for help to get started