Download Filing Status: Married or Single, Qualifying Widow(er) or Head of Household? and more Study notes Family Sociology in PDF only on Docsity!
Choosing the Correct Filing Status
Were you married on the last day of the year?^1
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Did your spouse die during the year?
Married Filing Jointly or Married Filing Separately
Did you and your spouse live apart during the last 6 months of the year?
NO
YES
YES NO
Did you pay more then half of the household costs of keeping up your home lived in for more than half of the year by your^3 : Qualifying Child^4 Married Child^5 Parent^6 Other relative^7
Do all of the following apply? You file a separate return from your spouse You pay more than half of the costs of keeping up your home occupied more than half the year by your child, stepchild, or foster child whom you claim as a dependent^8
Qualifying Widow(er)
Single
Head of Household
NO
NO
NO
NO YES
YES
YES
YES
Did your spouse die in 2006 or 2007 and do you have a dependent child?^2
- Your filing status is single if, on the last day of the year you were legally separated from your
spouse under a divorce or separate maintenance decree and do not qualify for another filing
status.
- If you paid over half of the household costs for your child, you can file as Qualifying Widow(er)
for 2 years after the death of your spouse. Your child or stepchild (foster child is not included)
must be your dependent and that child must have lived with you all year. You must have been
entitled to file Married Filing Jointly (even if you didn’t) in the year of spouse’s death. If you
meet the qualifications for Qualifying Widow(er) and for Head of Household you must use
Qualifying Widow(er) because Qualifying Widow(er) is more beneficial.
- See Publication 17, Filing Status , for rules applying to birth, death, or temporary absence during
the year. Military deployment/TDY is a temporary absence and he or she is considered to have lived in your home.
- See the Exemptions page for a definition of a qualifying child.
- A married child includes grandchild, stepchild, or adopted child, but the child is not a qualifying
person unless you can claim an exemption for the child. If you could claim an exemption for the
child, except that the child’s other parents claims the exemption under the special rules for a
noncustodial parent, then the child is a qualifying person.
- A parent does not have to live with you if you paid more than half the cost of keeping up his or
her main home for the entire year, but you must be able to claim an exemption for the parent.
- Other relatives include grandparent, brother, sister, stepbrother, stepsister, half brother, half
sister, stepmother, stepfather, mother-in-law, father-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, son-
in-law, daughter-in-law and, if related by blood, uncle, aunt, nephew, or niece. You must be
able to claim an exemption for any of these individuals.
- Or child’s other parent claims him or her under rules for children of divorced or separated
parents.
