Image via Wikipedia

Determining your filing status for tax purposes is easy, right?  If you are single with no children, yes.  However sometimes the correct filing status can be tricky.

You can be married the entire year but if your are legally divorced on New Year’s Eve, you are considered single for tax purposes for that year.  Even if you are married, you can file as head of household under certain circumstances if your spouse did not live with you for the last half of the year.  If your spouse dies during the year, you still file as married even though you may be legally single on the last day of the year.  If you are married, you can choose to file “married filing separately”.   Oftentimes doing so will result in higher total taxes for you and your spouse but there are special circumstances your taxes will be lower or when you want to legally insulate yourself from your spouse’s tax obligations.

And recently mixing things up even more for filing status determination are same sex marriages.  These marriages are not yet recognized at the Federal level but in certain circumstances (as in Oregon), these marriages are recognized for state income tax purposes.  This requires filing different sets of tax returns for Federal and State tax purposes.

Consulting a tax professional will help make sure you are using the legal and best filing status for your circumstances.

From the IRS today:

IRS TAX TIP 2010-03

Eight Facts About Filing Status

Everyone who files a federal tax return must determine which filing status applies to them. It’s important you choose your correct filing status as it determines your standard deduction, the amount of tax you owe and ultimately, any refund owed to you.

Here are eight facts about the five filing status options the IRS wants you to know in order to choose the correct filing status for your situation.

1. Your marital status on the last day of the year determines your marital status for the entire year.
2. If more than one filing status applies to you, choose the one that gives you the lowest tax obligation.
3. Single filing status generally applies to anyone who is unmarried, divorced or legally separated according to state law.
4. A married couple may file a joint return together. The couple’s filing status would be Married Filing Jointly.
5. If your spouse died during the year and you did not remarry during 2009, you may still file a joint return with that spouse for the year of death, provided the joint return election is not revoked by a personal representative for the deceased spouse.
6. A married couple may elect to file their returns separately. Each person’s filing status would generally be Married Filing Separately.
7. Head of Household generally applies to taxpayers who are unmarried. You must also have paid more than half the cost of maintaining a home for you and a qualifying person to qualify for this filing status.
8. You may be able to choose Qualifying Widow(er) with Dependent Child as your filing status if your spouse died during 2007 or 2008, you have a dependent child and you meet certain other conditions.

There’s much more information about determining your filing status in Publication 501, Exemptions, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information. Publication 501 is available on IRS.gov or by calling 800-TAX-FORM (800-829-3676).