paying more than half the cost
of keeping up the home to qualify for the head of household status.
If you think you qualify for
the head of household filing status, fill out the worksheets and follow the
rules. It is worth your try because doing so will give you a lower tax rate
than those for single or married filing separately. This would also allow
you better credits and higher deductions too.
When you are married both you
and your spouse must include all of your income, exemptions, and deductions
on your tax return. In some cases, one spouse may be relieved of joint
liability for tax, interest, and penalties on a joint return. The spouse
seeking relief can seek three types of reliefs - Innocent spouse relief,
separation of liability relief, and equitable relief.
For equitable relief you must
request relief for any time that the Internal Revenue Service can collect
from you. For refunds, you must request them within the statute of
limitations regarding refunds. To qualify for innocent spouse relief, you
must have filed a joint return with an erroneous item that is solely your
spouse's responsibility and you must establish that had no reason to know
that tax was understated and that it would be unfair to hold you responsible
for the liability.
For separation of liability
relief at the time of your request you must show that you are divorced or
legally separated from your spouse with whom you filed the return. You can
also show that you are widowed or that you have not been a member of the
same household for at lease twelve months before your separation of
liability relief request.
If you do not itemize deductions, you are
entitled to a higher standard deduction if you are 65 or older
at the end of the year. You are considered 65 on the day before
your 65th birthday. Therefore, you can take a higher standard
deduction for 2014 if you were born before January 2, 1950.
You can also take a higher
deduction if you are blind. If you are 65 or older or blind at the end of
the 2014 tax year, you can take an additional standard deduction amount of
$1,550 for each if you are single or head of household. However, if you are
married you can only take an additional standard deduction of $1,200 for
being over 65 years old and $1,200 for being blind. Therefore, if you are
married and both you and your spouse are over age 65 and one of you is blind
at the end of the tax year, you can an additional $3,600 standard deduction
amount. If both you and your spouse are over 65 year old and both of you are
blind at the end of the year, you can take an additional $4,800 standard
deduction amount.
For example, Kevin's wife died January 20, 2013, and by the
end of 2013 Kevin had not remarried. During 2014, and 2015, he
has continued to keep up a home for himself and his child for
whom he can claim an exemption. The last year you can file
jointly is the year that your spouse died. Kevin's wife died in January of
2013 so he can file married filing jointly with his deceased wife. If Kevin
gets married before the end of the year, then he can file married filing
jointly with his new wife.
After that, Kevin can file as
Qualifying Widower if he qualifies. He can use the Qualifying
Widower filing status for two years after the last year that he
filed married filing jointly with this wife. The qualifications
for the Qualifying Widower filing status are similar to the head
of household filing status. You have to
