How to File Taxes as a Qualified Widow or Widower

File your taxes under the filing status that saves the most money. Your filing status determines your income tax rate and standard deduction.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• IRS Forms
• Financial Calculator
• Computers
• Tax Preparation Software

1. Determine that your spouse died in the tax year one or two years immediately before the present tax year. For a 1999 tax return, your spouse must have died in 1997 or 1998.
2. Determine that you did not remarried in the tax year in which your spouse died or since. For a 1999 tax return, you could not have remarried in 1997, 1998 or 1999.
3. Determine that your home was the main home for the entire tax year for a dependent child. The dependent can be your child, grandchild, stepchild, adopted child or foster child.
4. Determine that you paid more than half the cost of maintaining your home.
5. Check the box for qualified widow(er) on line 5 of the 1040 or 1040A.

Tips & Warnings

• For the year in which your spouse died, you can file married filing jointly unless you remarried and divorced during that year.
• You will probably file as head of household after you have used your two years as a qualified widow(er), unless your situation changes.
• Your home can be the main home for your dependent child for the entire year even if your child is away at college or for some other temporary reason.
• Remarriage before or during the tax year disqualifies you from using this filing status even if you are divorced before the end of the tax year.
• You can file as a qualified widow(er) for only two years per deceased spouse.
• Taxes can be technical and tricky. If something is persistently confusing, talk to an experienced tax preparer.