{"id":43,"date":"2014-11-20T14:41:07","date_gmt":"2014-11-20T19:41:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.etax.com\/?p=43"},"modified":"2019-07-11T16:15:04","modified_gmt":"2019-07-11T20:15:04","slug":"choosing-right-filing-status","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/2014\/11\/20\/choosing-right-filing-status\/","title":{"rendered":"Choosing the Right Filing Status"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\">The benefits available to you at tax time, as well as tax rates and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/2026\/02\/19\/new-auto-loan-interest-deduction-how-to-save-up-to-10000-on-your-taxes-2025-2028\/\">deduction<\/a> amounts are dependent upon the filing status you choose. Your filing status is determined by your marital situation on the final day of the year, and whether or not you have any <a href=\"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/help\/doc\/dependent-test.htm\">dependents<\/a>.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Married- Joint or Separate?<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\">If you are married as of December 31<\/span><span class=\"s3\"><sup>st<\/sup><\/span><span class=\"s2\">, as far as the IRS is concerned, you are considered married for the entire tax year. If a married person lives in a separate home than their spouse and has a dependent, there are special circumstances which may allow the person to claim Head of Household as a filing status.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\">Married, Filing Jointly occurs when a couple files a single tax return together, while Married, Filing Separately requires each person to complete a separate return. Filing jointly means both spouses\u2019 incomes, in addition to deductions, are combined. Often, filing jointly can save you money when you file your return. If for any reason you need to keep your finances separate from your spouse\u2019s, or you\u2019re in the process of a divorce, you should consider filing separately.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Single \u2013 Head of Household<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\">Anyone who was not legally married by December 31<\/span><span class=\"s3\"><sup>st<\/sup><\/span><span class=\"s2\"> of the tax year typically falls under the status of single filer. If you aren\u2019t married but have a dependent to claim, you usually can get additional benefits by filing Head of Household. This tax status offers a higher standard deduction in combination with lower tax rates than just filing under a single status.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Qualifying Widow<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\">If the death of a spouse has occurred during the tax year, there are two options for filing: Married, Filing Jointly, or Married, Filing Separately. If the death of the spouse was within two years prior to this tax year, the taxpayer should file as Qualifying Widow or Widower, which allows the same standard deductions, as well as an equal tax rate to if you filed jointly while you were married. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The benefits available to you at tax time, as well as tax rates and deduction amounts are dependent upon the filing status you choose. Your filing status is determined by your marital situation on the final day of the year, and whether or not you have any dependents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[119],"tags":[84,48,76,86,87,88,85],"class_list":["post-43","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-filing-status-2","tag-filing-status","tag-head-of-household","tag-irs","tag-married-filing-jointly","tag-married-filing-separately","tag-qualifying-widow","tag-single"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Choosing the Right Filing Status - eTax.com\u00ae Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Choosing the Right Filing Status can increase the benefits avilable to you at tax time such as tax rates, credits, and deductions.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/2014\/11\/20\/choosing-right-filing-status\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Choosing the Right Filing Status - 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