Types of Personal Taxes

How To Determine Your Status

Your marital status on the last day of the year determines your status for the entire year. If more than one filing status applies, you may choose the one that gives you the lowest tax liability.

Choose which filing status is best for you:

Single

Single filing status generally applies if you are not married, divorced, legally separated, or a registered domestic partner.

As of December 31, 2020:

  • You were never married; or
  • You were legally separated or divorced; or
  • You are a registered domestic partner.
  • Your spouse died in 2020 and you did not remarry in 2020 and you choose to file as single.

Married Filing Jointly

Married couples have the option to file jointly or separately on their federal income tax returns.

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. A joint return 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.

As of December 31, 2020:

  • You were married, even if you did not live with your spouse; or
  • Your spouse died in 2020 and you did not remarry in 2020.

Married Filing Separately

You can choose married filing separately if you are married.

As of December 31, 2020:

  • You were married but choose to each file separate returns.
  • You will usually pay more tax than if you use another filing status for which you qualify.
  • You cannot take the student loan interest deduction, the education credits or the earned income credit.

Head of Household

This filing status is for unmarried individuals who provide a home for your parent or qualifying child. It is also for married individuals that lived apart from your spouse for the last 6 months of 2020, filed a separate return from your spouse, and you paid half the cost of keeping up your home for 2020, and your home was the main home of your dependent, that includes a child, stepchild, or foster child, nieces and nephews, for more than half of 2020. To file as head of household, you must meet all the following requirements:

As of December 31, 2020:

  • You were unmarried or “considered unmarried”; and
  • You paid more than half the cost of keeping up a home for the year; and
  • A “qualified person” lived with you in the home for more than half the year (except, if the “qualifying person” is your parent, they do not have to live with you).

Qualifying Widow(er)

This filing status is available to a widow or widower for 2 years following the year your spouse died.

As of December 31, 2020:

  • Your spouse died in 2019 or 2020.
  • You have a dependent child who is your son or daughter, including step children and legal adopted children.
  • You have not remarried during the tax year.
  • This status allows you to use joint return tax rates and the highest standard deduction amount.