Filing Status

There are 5 filing status -
1. SINGLE.
2. MARRIED FILING JOINT.
3. MARRIED FILING SEPARATELY.
4. HEAD OF HOUSEHOLD.
5. QUALIFYING WIDOW with a dependent child

In my opinion nothing better explain this than IRS website, do refer to it.

1. SINGLE- It includes, never married/ legally separated/ widowed( not remarried/ do not have a dependent child). The status on Dec. 31st decided the filing status.

2. MFJ- As the title suggests, the parties must be married on Dec 31st, they may live apart but not legally separated.
Now if the parties are divorced----status changes to " Single",
but if a spouse diesthere are three options-
i)a joint return may still be filed for that tax year, or
ii)if there's a dependent child, MFJ filing can be done for two subsequent years, however no exemption can be taken for the deceased.
iii)the person may chose to file "Single", if he hasn't remarried.

3. MFS- Here the parties are married as on Dec. 31st but decide to file the return as MFS,i.e the parties agree not to file a single return, they report separate Income on separate return and deduct their own expenses.

4. HoH-The party is unmarried , can claim a dependent and provides for more than half of the cost of keeping up a home for the dependent, for more than half of the year.


5. Qualifying widow(er) with a dependent child- This status is available only for a limited period. The party is unmarried, as the spouse has passed away during the year, and as on 31st December, she hasn't remarried.
In the year of spouse death, the party can file a joint return and for the subsequent two years can file under QW if the party has a dependent child, i.e. the surviving spouse has maintained a household that for the whole of the taxable year was the principal place of abode for the child.
After two years the QW status would not be available and dependending upon the circumstances it would change to single/ HoH/ MFJ/MFS.

Scenario 1:
X is married to Y with no dependent child. Y dies during the year. X filing status can be single,
Q1.Can he even claim MFJ( for that particular year)when there's no dependent child?
A1.Yes, irrespective of whether there is a dependent child or not


Scenario 2:
X married to Y with dependent child. Y dies during the year
Q2.X status for that tax year MFJ and for two subsequent year he can file MFJ without claiming the exemption for deceased spouse?
A2.It would be MFJ in the year of death of spouse and Qualified widower for the next 2 years, subject to conditions (i.e, should have maintained principal residence for the child for the entire year)

Q3.In either case, after the death of the deceased the surviving spouse can not claim the exemption for the deceased, though he can file MFJ, right?
 A3.Yes, can avail benefits of standard deduction & lower tax rates but no personal exemption for deceased spouse can be claimed.

*I had asked these questions on cpanet forum and the above mentioned answers were replies from another user on the forum.