If you are filing your taxes and are wondering what to put as your filing status, here is a quick overview of what you should put.
The filing statuses are : Single, Married Filing Jointly (MFJ), Married Filing Separately (MFS), Qualifying Widow or Widower, and Head of Household.
Call Moontree Tax Service or visit our website and send an email.
SINGLE
If you were not married on the last day of the year, you would file as single. Example: You have never been married, and you are filing taxes in 2022 for the year of 2021. Since you were not married on Dec 31, 2021. you would file as Single. You would also file as single if you were divorced on Dec 31. So if your divorce finalized on Dec 31, you are filing as single.
Married Filing Jointly (MFJ)
If you were married on Dec 31, 2021, you can file as MFJ. If you both agree to file together, you can file as MFJ. Unless you are both making millions each, filing MFJ is probably better than separately in terms of saving on tax, could be a different answer if the question is about avoiding ex-spouse alimony.
Married Filing Separately (MFS)
If you were married on Dec 31, 2021, you can file as MFS. People usually file as MFS when the spouses are fighting and will probably divorce soon but don’t want to file together. If you were legally married still at the end of the year and you don’t have any dependents to take care of, you are required to file as either MFJ or MFS.
Qualifying Widow (QW)
If your spouse died in 2021, you can still file as Married Filing Jointly when you file your taxes but only for 2021. When you are filing for 2022 and 2023, 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 2025 and you are filing your taxes for 2024, you can no longer use this status.
If in 2024, 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, if you don’t want to file as (QW) or (HOH) you can still file as single if you wanted to.
Head of Household (HOH)
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: 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 you spouse on DEC 31, 2021, but you haven’t lived together in the last 6 months on 2021 and you take care of a dependent. You would file as HOH.
Here is a link to the IRS for assistance: https://www.irs.gov/help/ita/what-is-my-filing-status
