If you are legally separated from a spouse but married to that person,
then you can change the way that you file your taxes. In fact, you can
file as a single person if you have a legal separation that is documented
by the courts and you have no dependent children that you need to claim
on your forms. You do not have to file as a married person if you are
not sharing anything with your spouse at the time. If you have a qualifying
dependent but you are separated, then you can file as the head of your
household. In fact, you can file as the head of a household even if you
are not legally separated from a spouse. You will just need to prove that
you have paid over half of the cost of maintaining a home for a qualifying
dependent and yourself.
If you do not make over half the money for a household and are not
legally separated, then you may need to file jointly with your spouse as married. Filing
jointly as a married couple will probably save you money in the long run
so it may be worth looking into. If you want to file married separately
then you will not get all the tax credits and deductions that you could
obtain with a joint filing. Yet if your spouse is estranged but you are
not legally separated, this may be the best way to do this. It will require
less mutual cooperation, and you may want to forego the money in order
to avoid having to converse and work with your spouse. As you can see,
separation can have a direct effect on how you file your taxes for the
year. Talk to a family lawyer if you want to make your separation legal
in order to change the way that you file for taxes or for some other monetary
or legal issue. At the
Hopper, Hopper & Mulligan, PLLC, we are here to give you the sound and solid separation that you want!
Contact us today to get started!