If your spouse died during the tax year, you are
considered married for the whole tax year for filing status purposes. If
you remarried before the end of the tax year, you must file a joint tax
return with your new spouse and therefore the only option for your
deceased spouse would be married filing separate.
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 a certain amount. This called a
special allowance. Married persons filing separate tax returns who live
together at any time during the tax year cannot claim the special
allowance.
You can change your filing status by filing an amended
tax return using Form 1040X. If you or your spouse (or both) file a
separate tax return, you generally can change to a joint tax return any
time within three years from the due date of the separate tax return or tax
returns.
You can change your filing status by filing an amended
tax return using Form 1040X. If you and your spouse file a joint tax
return, you cannot choose to file separate tax returns for that year
after the due date of the tax return.
A personal representative for a decedent can change from
a joint tax return elected by the surviving spouse to a separate tax
return for the decedent. The personal representative has one year from
the due date (including extensions) of the tax return to make this
change.
In qualifying for head of household filing status and in
calculating the expenses of keeping up a home, include in the cost of
upkeep expenses such as rent, mortgage interest, real estate taxes but
do not include the rental value of a home you own. You can include
insurance on the home, repairs and utilities and also food eaten in the
home.
You may be eligible to file as head of household if the
individual who is born or dies during the year qualifies you for this
filing status and you must have provided more than half of the cost of
keeping up a home which was the individual's main home for the period when
the individual lived.
Remember, you can claim an exemption for a qualifying child or
qualifying relative if you meet the dependent taxpayer test, the joint
tax return test and the citizen or resident test.
The exemptions which you may be able to take are personal
exemptions for yourself and your spouse and of course exemptions for your
dependents.
Generally, if you are a nonresident alien (other than a
resident of Canada or Mexico, or certain residents of India or Korea),
you can qualify for only one personal exemption for yourself. You would
not be able to claim an exemption for spouse or for your dependents.
If you file a separate tax return, you can claim an
exemption for your spouse only if your spouse had no gross income, is
not filing a tax return and was not a dependent of another taxpayer.
