What Filing Status am I?

 

Why is it important? 

Your filing status determines how much of a standard deduction you can claim, as well as the amount of tax you pay.  For example, a single person with $40,000 in taxable income must pay approximately $1,000 more in federal income tax than married/joint filers and $800 more than Head of Household filers with the same amount of income. 

What filing status am I?

You are:

SINGLE status if you are unmarried at the end of the tax year and you do not qualify for Head of Household status with a qualifying child.   (See Head of Household)

MARRIED FILING JOINT or MARRIED FILING SEPARATE if you were legally married on the last day of the tax year.  It is usually advantageous to file jointly if one of the spouses has much more income than the other.  If you do not want to file jointly, you don’t have to, but both of you may pay more tax as a result.  If you do not want to be responsible for what your spouse declares on his or her tax return, then file separately.  In some situations there is a tax savings by filing separately if you had a lot of medical expenses or miscellaneous deductions.  I can figure which is best for you if you would like.  You will also need to pay for the preparation of two returns if you choose to file separately.

HEAD OF HOUSEHOLD if you were not legally married at the end of the tax year or lived in a separate home away from your spouse for at least the last six months of the tax year and provided more than one-half the cost of maintaining a household for a relative.  The relative must live with you in your principle residence unless he or she is a parent.  A foster child also qualifies.  You must provide more than one-half the cost of rent, mortgage payments, utilities and property taxes on your principle residence or the residence of your parent to qualify. 

QUALIFYING WIDOW(ER) WITH DEPENDENT CHILD if your spouse died in one of the two years preceeding the current tax year and you have a child you can claim as a dependent.  This rate is the same as Married filing joint so you would pay less tax than Single or Head of Household status.