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Individuals in the United States of America (USA), need to know and understand about the filing statuses before filing their tax return (Form 1040).
Your filing status is based on your martial status on the last day of the year (Dec/31). You can choose:
- Married filing jointly (MFJ) – you’re married and want to file jointly, unless filing separately is lowering your taxes. Experts find that most of their clients save money by filing jointly.
- Single – you’re married, divorced or legally separated.
- Head of Household (HOH) – you’re single and during the year you paid more than half of living expenses for yourself and a qualifying dependent.
- Qualifying surviving spouse (earlier called as widower) – if you’re spouse passed away during the last 2 years and you have a dependent child.
Example for MFJ status: Sam working at I.T company in Seattle, USA, got married to Samantha in December’31st. His filing status for the year is Married filing jointly (MFJ). He and his spouse can file together one single return, form 1040.
Divorced people: If you are divorced by the last day of the year, you are considered unmarried for the whole year. You cannot file your return as Married filing jointly.
Spouse died during the year: You are considered married for the whole year for filing status purposes.
If you don’t get married for next 2 years, you may be entitled to the special benefits under the tax filing status Qualifying surviving spouse. Post 2 years, you can opt for Head of Household filing status.
What if I get married before the end of the tax year of my spouse death?
If you remarried before the end of the tax year, you could file a joint return with your new spouse. Your deceased spouse’s filing status is married filing separately for that year.
Reach out to us and make a wise tax plan, which will help save taxes for present and future coming years. (Link for Enquiry form)
Insert links Also read about – Benefit of selecting MFJ vs single status – tax filing ; 2025 Federal Income Tax Brackets (the United States of America).
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