Filing Status: Single, Married, or Head of Household?

Your filing status for your income tax return is tied to your family relationships. If you are married or single, a parent or a caretaker, or if you live alone or with others - all these situations have an impact on how you will file your income tax return. Here are the basic explanations for each filing status:

• Single: if you are unmarried, divorced, legally separated or widowed as of the last day of the calendar year you are considered a single taxpayer. You must also file as a single taxpayer even if you have dependents but are not the primary caregiver for more than half of the tax year.

• Married Filing Jointly: if you and your spouse have joint responsibility for the income reported for the tax year, you'll likely file one tax return as married filing jointly. This filing status is used by most couples because it lowers their overall tax liability.

• Married Filing Separately: if you and your spouse are separated (but not yet divorced) or are both high-income wage earners and have multiple itemized deductions, or worked in multiple states, it may be better for you to file as married filing separately. If you choose to file separately you will give up certain tax breaks, like child tax credits.

• Head of Household: if you are unmarried as of the last day of the tax year AND you are paying for more than half the costs of maintaining your home AND you have a qualifying dependent that has lived with you for at least six months during the tax year, then you should be able to lower your tax liability by filing as head of household.

• Qualifying Widow(er) with Dependent Child: if you are widowed, have not remarried during the tax year, and have a dependent child who lives with you, then you should be able to file as a qualifying widow(er). You are able to claim this status for the tax year in which your spouse passed away and up to two years after his/her death as long as you have not remarried and still have a dependent child at home.

It is not uncommon for a taxpayer to fall into more than one of these categories. The IRS allows you to file using the status that is most advantageous for you - meaning you can choose the status that results in the largest tax refund.

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