Filing Status (federal income tax)

Filing status is an important factor when computing taxable income under the federal income tax in the United States. The federal tax filing status defines the type of tax return form an individual will use. Filing status is based on marital status and family situation.

A taxpayer will fall into one of five possible filing status categories: single individual, married person filing jointly or surviving spouse, married person filing separately, head of household and a qualifying widow(er) with dependent children. A taxpayer who qualifies for more than one filing status may choose the most advantageous status.

Generally, the marital status on the last day of the year determines the status for the entire year.

Generally, if someone is unmarried, divorced, a registered domestic partner, or legally separated according to state law on December 31, that person must file as a single person for that year because the marital status at year-end applies for the entire tax year.

There are some exceptions, such as qualifying as a head of household or as a surviving spouse, that do not require one to file as a single taxpayer.

Marital status is decided based on a person's marital status on December 31. If a couple is married on December 31 of the taxable year, the couple may file a joint return for the year. However, even if the first day of legal separation or divorce from the spouse is December 31, one cannot file a joint return for any portion of that year. Certain married individuals, not legally separated or divorced, may still be considered single for purposes of filing tax returns if they are living apart.

A married couple is not required to file jointly. If one lived apart from one's spouse for the last six months of the year, one may also qualify for head of household status. If a spouse dies during the year, the surviving spouse may generally still file a joint return with the deceased spouse for that year because the taxpayer's marital status at the time of the spouse's death applies to the entire taxable year.

Although the joint return often produces lower taxes, the opposite is sometimes the case. To accommodate for such circumstances, married couples may decide to file separately for a taxable year.

Married couples filing separately does not create an identical situation to the two parties filing as single. There are different brackets for unmarried taxpayers from the ones for married taxpayers who file separately. Unmarried taxpayers enjoy wider tax brackets and so pay less tax on the same amount of income. The rationale behind this differentiation may be in part due to the economy of scale that married couples enjoy by sharing certain expenses.

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Wikipedia