Publication 17: Your Federal Income Tax; Chapter 2

This is archived information that pertains only to the 2004 Tax Year. If you
are looking for information for the current tax year, go to the Tax Prep Help Area.

Introduction

This chapter helps you determine which filing status to use. There are five filing statuses:

Single,
Married Filing Jointly,
Married Filing Separately,
Head of Household, and
Qualifying Widow(er) With Dependent Child.

If more than one filing status applies to you, choose the one that will give you the lowest tax.

You must determine your filing status before you can determine your filing requirements (chapter 1), standard deduction (chapter 22), and correct tax (chapter 32). You also use your filing status in determining whether you are eligible to claim certain deductions and credits.

Useful Items - You may want to see:

Publication

501 Exemptions, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information
519 U.S. Tax Guide for Aliens
555 Community Property

Marital Status

In general, your filing status depends on whether you are considered unmarried or married. A marriage means only a legal union between a man and a woman as husband and wife.

Unmarried persons. You are considered unmarried for the whole year if, on the last day of your tax year, you are unmarried or legally separated from your spouse under a divorce or a separate maintenance decree. State law governs whether you are married or legally separated under a divorce or separate maintenance decree.

Divorced persons. If you are divorced under a final decree by the last day of the year, you are considered unmarried for the whole year.

Divorce and remarriage. If you obtain a divorce in one year for the sole purpose of filing tax returns as unmarried individuals, and at the time of divorce you intended to and did remarry each other in the next tax year, you and your spouse must file as married individuals.

Annulled marriages. If you obtain a court decree of annulment, which holds that no valid marriage ever existed, you are considered unmarried even if you filed joint returns for earlier years. You must file Form 1040X, Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, claiming single or head of household status for each tax year affected by the annulment that is not closed by the statute of limitations for filing a tax return. The statute of limitations generally does not expire until 3 years after your original return was filed.

Head of household or qualifying widow(er) with dependent child. If you are considered unmarried, you may be able to file as a head of household or as a qualifying widow(er) with a dependent child. See Head of Household and Qualifying Widow(er) With Dependent Child to see if you qualify.

Married persons. If you are considered married for the whole year, you and your spouse can file a joint return, or you can file separate returns.

Considered married. You are considered married for the whole year if on the last day of your tax year you and your spouse meet any one of the following tests.

You are married and living together as husband and wife.
You are living together in a common law marriage that is recognized in the state where you now live or in the state where the common law marriage began.
You are married and living apart, but not legally separated under a decree of divorce or separate maintenance.
You are separated under an interlocutory (not final) decree of divorce. For purposes of filing a joint return, you are not considered divorced.

Spouse died. If your spouse died during the year, you are considered married for the whole year for filing status purposes.

If you did not remarry before the end of the tax year, you can file a joint return for yourself and your deceased spouse. For the next 2 years, you may be entitled to the special benefits described later under Qualifying Widow(er) With Dependent Child.

If you remarried before the end of the tax year, you can file a joint return with your new spouse. Your deceased spouse's filing status is married filing separately for that year.

Married persons living apart. If you live apart from your spouse and meet certain tests, you may be considered unmarried. If this applies to you, you can file as head of household even though you are not divorced or legally separated. If you qualify to file as head of household instead of as married filing separately, your standard deduction will be higher. Also, your tax may be lower, and you may be able to claim the earned income credit. See Head of Household, later.

Single

Your filing status is single if, on the last day of the year, you are unmarried or legally separated from your spouse under a divorce or separate maintenance decree, and you do not qualify for another filing status. To determine your marital status on the last day of the year, see Marital Status, earlier.

Your filing status may be single if you were widowed before January 1, 2004, and did not remarry in 2004. However, you might be able to use another filing status that will give you a lower tax. See Head of Household and Qualifying Widow(er) With Dependent Child to see if you qualify.

How to file. You can file Form 1040EZ (if you have no dependents, are under 65 and not blind, and meet other requirements), Form 1040A, or Form 1040. If you file Form 1040A or Form 1040, show your filing status as single by checking the box on line 1. Use the Single column of the Tax Table or Section A of the Tax Computation Worksheet to figure your tax.

Married Filing Jointly

You can choose married filing jointly as your filing status if you are married and both you and your spouse agree to file a joint return. On a joint return, you report your combined income and deduct your combined allowable expenses. You can file a joint return even if one of you had no income or deductions.

If you and your spouse decide to file a joint return, your tax may be lower than your combined tax for the other filing statuses. Also, your standard deduction (if you do not itemize deductions) may be higher, and you may qualify for tax benefits that do not apply to other filing statuses.

If you and your spouse each have income, you may want to figure your tax both on a joint return and on separate returns (using the filing status of married filing separately). Choose the method that gives the two of you the lower combined tax.

How to file. If you file as married filing jointly, you can use Form 1040 or Form 1040A. If you have no dependents, are under 65 and not blind, and meet other requirements, you can file Form 1040EZ. If you file Form 1040 or Form 1040A, show this filing status by checking the box on line 2. Use the Married filing jointly column of the Tax Table or Section B of the Tax Computation Worksheet to figure your tax.

Spouse died during the year. If your spouse died during the year, you are considered married for the whole year and can choose married filing jointly as your filing status. See Spouse died, earlier, for more information.

Divorced persons. If you are divorced under a final decree by the last day of the year, you are considered unmarried for the whole year and you cannot choose married filing jointly as your filing status.

Filing a Joint Return

Both you and your spouse must include all of your income, exemptions, and deductions on your joint return.

Accounting period. Both of you must use the same accounting period, but you can use different accounting methods. See Accounting Periods and Accounting Methods in chapter 1.

Joint responsibility. Both of you may be held responsible, jointly and individually, for the tax and any interest or penalty due on your joint return. One spouse may be held responsible for all the tax due even if all the income was earned by the other spouse.

Divorced taxpayer. You may be held jointly and individually responsible for any tax, interest, and penalties due on a joint return filed before your divorce. This responsibility may apply even if your divorce decree states that your former spouse will be responsible for any amounts due on previously filed joint returns.

Relief from joint liability. In some cases, one spouse may be relieved of joint liability for tax, interest, and penalties on a joint return for items of the other spouse that were incorrectly reported on the joint return. You can ask for relief no matter how small the liability.

There are three types of relief available.

Innocent spouse relief, which applies to all joint filers.
Separation of liability, which applies to joint filers who are divorced, widowed, legally separated, or have not lived together for the 12 months ending on the date election of this relief is filed.
Equitable relief, which applies to all joint filers who do not qualify for innocent spouse relief or separation of liability.

You must file Form 8857, Request for Innocent Spouse Relief, to request any of these kinds of relief. Publication 971, Innocent Spouse Relief, explains these kinds of relief and who may qualify for them.

Signing a joint return. For a return to be considered a joint return, both husband and wife generally must sign the return. If your spouse died before signing the return, see Signing the return in chapter 4.

Spouse away from home. If your spouse is away from home, you should prepare the return, sign it, and send it to your spouse to sign so that it can be filed on time.

Injury or disease prevents signing. If your spouse cannot sign because of disease or injury and tells you to sign, you can sign your spouse's name in the proper space on the return followed by the words “By (your name), Husband (or Wife).” Be sure to also sign in the space provided for your signature. Attach a dated statement, signed by you, to the return. The statement should include the form number of the return you are filing, the tax year, the reason your spouse cannot sign, and that your spouse has agreed to your signing for him or her.

Signing as guardian of spouse. If you are the guardian of your spouse who is mentally incompetent, you can sign the return for your spouse as guardian.

Spouse in combat zone. If your spouse is unable to sign the return because he or she is serving in a combat zone (such as the Persian Gulf Area, Yugoslavia, or Afghanistan), or a qualified hazardous duty area (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Macedonia), or a contingency operation, and you do not have a power of attorney or other statement, you can sign for your spouse. Attach a signed statement to your return that explains that your spouse is serving in a combat zone. For more information on special tax rules for persons who are serving in a combat zone, or who are in missing status as a result of serving in a combat zone, get Publication 3, Armed Forces' Tax Guide.

Other reasons spouse cannot sign. If your spouse cannot sign the joint return for any other reason, you can sign for your spouse only if you are given a valid power of attorney (a legal document giving you permission to act for your spouse). Attach the power of attorney (or a copy of it) to your tax return. You can use Form 2848, Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative.

Nonresident alien or dual-status alien. A joint return generally cannot be filed if either spouse is a nonresident alien at any time during the tax year. However, if one spouse was a nonresident alien or dual-status alien who was married to a U.S. citizen or resident at the end of the year, the spouses can choose to file a joint return. If you do file a joint return, you and your spouse are both treated as U.S. residents for the entire tax year. For information on this choice, see chapter 1 of Publication 519.

Married Filing Separately

You can choose married filing separately as your filing status if you are married. This filing status may benefit you if you want to be responsible only for your own tax or if it results in less tax than filing a joint return.

If you and your spouse do not agree to file a joint return, you may have to use this filing status.

You may be able to choose head of household filing status if you live apart from your spouse, meet certain tests, and are considered unmarried (explained later, under Head of Household). This can apply to you even if you are not divorced or legally separated. If you qualify to file as head of household, instead of as married filing separately, your tax may be lower, you may be able to claim the earned income credit and certain other credits, and your standard deduction will be higher. The head of household filing status allows you to choose the standard deduction even if your spouse chooses to itemize deductions. See Head of Household, later, for more information.

Unless you are required to file separately, you should figure your tax both ways (on a joint return and on separate returns). This way you can make sure you are using the filing status that results in the lowest combined tax. However, you will generally pay more combined tax on separate returns than you would on a joint return for the reasons listed under Special Rules, later.

How to file. If you file a separate return, you generally report only your own income, exemptions, credits, and deductions on your individual return. You can claim an exemption for your spouse if your spouse had no gross income and was not the dependent of another person. However, if your spouse had any gross income or was the dependent of someone else, you cannot claim an exemption for him or her on your separate return.

If you file as married filing separately, you can use Form 1040A or Form 1040. Select this filing status by checking the box on line 3 of either form. You also must enter your spouse's social security number and full name in the spaces provided. Use the Married filing separately column of the Tax Table or Section C of the Tax Computation Worksheet to figure your tax.

Special Rules

If you choose married filing separately as your filing status, the following special rules apply. Because of these special rules, you will usually pay more tax on a separate return than if you used another filing status that you qualify for.

Your tax rate generally will be higher than on a joint return.
Your exemption amount for figuring the alternative minimum tax will be half that allowed to a joint return filer.
You cannot take the credit for child and dependent care expenses in most cases, and the amount that you can exclude from income under an employer's dependent care assistance program is limited to $2,500 (instead of $5,000 if you filed a joint return). For more information about these expenses, the credit, and the exclusion, see chapter 34.
You cannot take the earned income credit.
You cannot take the exclusion or credit for adoption expenses in most cases.
You cannot take the education credits (the Hope credit and the lifetime learning credit), the deduction for student loan interest, or the tuition and fees deduction.
You cannot exclude any interest income from qualified U.S. savings bonds that you used for higher education expenses.
If you lived with your spouse at any time during the tax year:
1. You cannot claim the credit for the elderly or the disabled.
2. You will have to include in income more (up to 85%) of your social security benefits or equivalent railroad retirement benefits you received, and
3. You cannot roll over amounts from a traditional IRA into a Roth IRA.
The following deductions and credits are reduced at income levels that are half those for a joint return:
1. The child tax credit,
2. The retirement savings contributions credit,
3. Itemized deductions, and
4. The deduction for personal exemptions.
Your capital loss deduction limit is $1,500 (instead of $3,000 if you filed a joint return).
If your spouse itemizes deductions, you cannot claim the standard deduction. If you can claim the standard deduction, your basic standard deduction is half the amount allowed on a joint return.

Individual retirement arrangements (IRAs). You may not be able to deduct all or part of your contributions to a traditional IRA if you or your spouse was covered by an employee retirement plan at work during the year. Your deduction is reduced or eliminated if your income is more than a certain amount. This amount is much lower for married individuals who file separately and lived together at any time during the year. For more information, see How Much Can You Deduct in chapter 18.

Rental activity losses. If you actively participated in a passive rental real estate activity that produced a loss, you generally can deduct the loss from your nonpassive income, up to $25,000. This is called a special allowance. However, married persons filing separate returns who lived together at any time during the year cannot claim this special allowance. Married persons filing separate returns who lived apart at all times during the year are each allowed a $12,500 maximum special allowance for losses from passive real estate activities. See Limits on Rental Losses in chapter 10.

Community property states. If you live in Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington, or Wisconsin and file separately, your income may be considered separate income or community income for income tax purposes. See Publication 555.

Joint Return After Separate Returns

You can change your filing status by filing an amended return using Form 1040X.

If you or your spouse (or both of you) file a separate return, you generally can change to a joint return any time within 3 years from the due date of the separate return or returns. This does not include any extensions. A separate return includes a return filed by you or your spouse claiming married filing separately, single, or head of household filing status.

Separate Returns After Joint Return

Once you file a joint return, you cannot choose to file separate returns for that year after the due date of the return.

Exception. A personal representative for a decedent can change from a joint return elected by the surviving spouse to a separate return for the decedent. The personal representative has 1 year from the due date of the return to make the change. See chapter 4 for more information on filing a return for a decedent.

Head of Household

You may be able to file as head of household if you meet all of the following requirements.

You are unmarried or “considered unmarried” on the last day of the year.
You paid more than half the cost of keeping up a home for the year.
A “qualifying person” lived with you in the home for more than half the year (except for temporary absences, such as school). However, your dependent parent does not have to live with you. See Special rule for parent, later, under Qualifying Person. A foster child must live with you all year. Also, see Table 2-1, later.

If you qualify to file as head of household, your tax rate usually will be lower than the rates for single or married filing separately. You will also receive a higher standard deduction than if you file as single or married filing separately.

Kidnapped child. A child may qualify you to file as head of household even if the child has been kidnapped. For more information, see Publication 501.

How to file. If you file as head of household, you can use either Form 1040A or Form 1040. Indicate your choice of this filing status by checking the box on line 4 of either form. Use the Head of a household column of the Tax Table or Section D of the Tax Computation Worksheet to figure your tax.

Considered Unmarried

You are considered unmarried on the last day of the tax year if you meet all the following tests.

You file a separate return, defined earlier under Joint Return After Separate Returns.
You paid more than half the cost of keeping up your home for the tax year.
Your spouse did not live in your home during the last 6 months of the tax year. Your spouse is considered to live in your home even if he or she is temporarily absent due to special circumstances. See Temporary absences, under Qualifying Person, later.
Your home was the main home of your child, stepchild, or adopted child for more than half the year or was the main home of your foster child for the entire year. (See Home of qualifying person, under Qualifying Person, later, for rules applying to a child's birth, death, or temporary absence during the year.)
You must be able to claim an exemption for the child. However, you can still meet this test if you cannot claim the exemption only because the noncustodial parent is allowed to claim the exemption for the child. See Exception under Support Test for Child of Divorced or Separated Parents in chapter 3 for situations where the noncustodial parent is allowed to claim the exemption for the child. The general rules for claiming an exemption for a dependent are explained in chapter 3.

If you were considered married for part of the year and lived in a community property state (listed earlier under Married Filing Separately), special rules may apply in determining your income and expenses. See Publication 555 for more information.

Nonresident alien spouse. You are considered unmarried for head of household purposes if your spouse was a nonresident alien at any time during the year and you do not choose to treat your nonresident spouse as a resident alien. However, your spouse is not a qualifying person for head of household purposes. You must have another qualifying person and meet the other tests to be eligible to file as a head of household.

Earned income credit. Even if you are considered unmarried for head of household purposes because you are married to a nonresident alien, you are still considered married for purposes of the earned income credit (unless you meet the five tests listed earlier). You are not entitled to the credit unless you file a joint return with your spouse and meet other qualifications. See chapter 38 for more information.

Choice to treat spouse as resident. You are considered married if you choose to treat your spouse as a resident alien.

Keeping Up a Home

To qualify for head of household status, you must pay more than half of the cost of keeping up a home for the year. You can determine whether you paid more than half of the cost of keeping up a home by using the Cost of Keeping Up a Home worksheet, shown on the next page.

Cost of Keeping Up a Home


	Amount You Paid	Total Cost
Property taxes	$	$
Mortgage interest expense
Rent
Utility charges
Upkeep and repairs
Property insurance
Food consumed on the premises
Other household expenses
Totals	$	$

Minus total amount you paid		( )

Amount others paid		$

If the total amount you paid is more than the amount others paid, you meet the requirement of paying more than half the cost of keeping up the home.

Costs you include. Include in the cost of upkeep expenses such as rent, mortgage interest, real estate taxes, insurance on the home, repairs, utilities, and food eaten in the home.

Costs you do not include. Do not include in the cost of upkeep expenses such as clothing, education, medical treatment, vacations, life insurance, or transportation. Also, do not include the rental value of a home you own or the value of your services or those of a member of your household.

Qualifying Person

See Table 2-1 to see who is a qualifying person.

Any person not described in Table 2-1 is not a qualifying person.

Home of qualifying person. Generally, the qualifying person must live with you for more than half of the year.

Special rule for parent. You may be eligible to file as head of household even if the parent for whom you can claim an exemption does not live with you. You must pay more than half the cost of keeping up a home that was the main home for the entire year for your father or mother. You are keeping up a main home for your father or mother if you pay more than half the cost of keeping your parent in a rest home or home for the elderly.

Temporary absences. You and your qualifying person are considered to live together even if one or both of you are temporarily absent from your home due to special circumstances such as illness, education, business, vacation, or military service. It must be reasonable to assume that the absent person will return to the home after the temporary absence. You must continue to keep up the home during the absence.

Death or birth. You may be eligible to file as head of household if the individual who qualifies you for this filing status is born or dies during the year. You must have provided more than half of the cost of keeping up a home that was the individual's main home for more than half the year or, if less, the period during which the individual lived.

Example.

You are unmarried. Your mother, for whom you can claim an exemption, lived in an apartment by herself. She died on September 2. The cost of the upkeep of her apartment for the year until her death was $6,000. You paid $4,000 and your brother paid $2,000. Your brother made no other payments toward your mother's support. Your mother had no income. Because you paid more than half the cost of keeping up your mother's apartment from January 1 until her death, and you can claim an exemption for her, you can file as a head of household.

Table 2-1. Who Is a Qualifying Person for Filing as Head of Household? ¹

IF the person is your . . .	AND . . .	THEN that person is . . .
parent, grandparent, brother, sister, stepbrother, stepsister, stepmother, stepfather, mother-in-law, father-in-law, half brother, half sister, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, son-in-law, or daughter-in-law	you can claim an exemption for him or her ²	a qualifying person.
	you cannot claim an exemption for him or her	not a qualifying person.
uncle, aunt, nephew, or niece	he or she is related to you by blood and you can claim an exemption for him or her ^{2, 3}	a qualifying person.
	he or she is not related to you by blood ³	not a qualifying person.
	you cannot claim an exemption for him or her
child, grandchild, stepchild, or adopted child	he or she is single	a qualifying person. ⁴
	he or she is married, and you can claim an exemption for him or her ²	a qualifying person.
	he or she is married, and you cannot claim an exemption for him or her	not a qualifying person. ⁵
foster child ⁶	the child lived with you all year, and you can claim an exemption for him or her ²	a qualifying person.
	the child lived with you all year, and you cannot claim an exemption for him or her	not a qualifying person.
¹A person cannot qualify more than one taxpayer to use the head of household filing status for the year.
²If you can claim an exemption for a person only because of a multiple support agreement, that person cannot be a qualifying person. See Multiple Support Agreement in chapter 3.
³You are related by blood to an uncle or aunt if he or she is the brother or sister of your mother or father. You are related by blood to a nephew or niece if he or she is the child of your brother or sister.
⁴This child is a qualifying person even if you cannot claim an exemption for the child.
⁵This child is a qualifying person if you could claim an exemption for the child except that the child's other parent claims the exemption under the special rules for a noncustodial parent discussed under Support Test for Child of Divorced or Separated Parents in chapter 3.
⁶The term “foster child” is defined under Exemptions for Dependents in chapter 3.

Qualifying Widow(er) With Dependent Child

If your spouse died in 2004, you can use married filing jointly as your filing status for 2004 if you otherwise qualify to use that status. The year of death is the last year for which you can file jointly with your deceased spouse. See Married Filing Jointly, earlier.

You may be eligible to use qualifying widow(er) with dependent child as your filing status for 2 years following the year your spouse died. For example, if your spouse died in 2003, and you have not remarried, you may be able to use this filing status for 2004 and 2005.

This filing status entitles you to use joint return tax rates and the highest standard deduction amount (if you do not itemize deductions). This status does not entitle you to file a joint return.

How to file. If you file as qualifying widow(er) with dependent child, you can use either Form 1040A or Form 1040. Indicate your filing status by checking the box on line 5 of either form. Use the Married filing jointly column of the Tax Table or Section B of the Tax Computation Worksheet to figure your tax.

Eligibility rules. You are eligible to file your 2004 return as a qualifying widow(er) with dependent child if you meet all of the following tests.

You were entitled to file a joint return with your spouse for the year your spouse died. It does not matter whether you actually filed a joint return.
Your spouse died in 2002 or 2003 and you did not remarry before the end of 2004.
You have a child, stepchild, adopted child, or foster child for whom you can claim an exemption.
You paid more than half the cost of keeping up a home that is the main home for you and that child for the entire year, except for temporary absences. See Temporary absences and Keeping Up a Home, discussed earlier under Head of Household.

As mentioned earlier, this filing status is only available for 2 years following the year your spouse died.

Example.

John Reed's wife died in 2002. John has not remarried. During 2003 and 2004, he continued to keep up a home for himself and his child (for whom he can claim an exemption). For 2002 he was entitled to file a joint return for himself and his deceased wife. For 2003 and 2004 he can file as qualifying widower with a dependent child. After 2004 he can file as head of household if he qualifies.

Death or birth. You may be eligible to file as a qualifying widow(er) with dependent child if the child who qualifies you for this filing status is born or dies during the year. You must have provided more than half of the cost of keeping up a home that was the child's main home during the entire part of the year he or she was alive.

Previous | First | Next

Publications Index | 2004 Tax Help Archives | Tax Help Archives Main | Home

Chapter 2 - Filing Status