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Single, Married, or Head of Household?

Okay, seriously, now that the tax deadline, April 15, had passed, and tax extension had filed; you really need to start working on your returns!

What’s your status? No, not your Facebook status, your income tax return filing status. Filing status can impact the tax benefits you receive, the amount of your standard deduction, and the amount of taxes you pay. It can even – drum roll please – affect whether you have to file a federal income tax return.

Classifying your relationship as “It’s Complicated” will only annoy the overworked IRS Agent. You must choose from five filing statuses on a federal tax return, with the three most common being “Single,” “Married Filing Jointly,” and “Head of Household.”

Your marital status on the last day of the year is your marital status for the entire year. So even if you had a New Year’s Eve wedding, in tax return terms, you were married for all of 2012. A married couple can either file together using the Married Filing Jointly status, or separately, in which case each person’s filing status would be Married Filing Separately. Pretty self-explanatory.

If your spouse died during 2012, you usually can still file a joint return for that year. Qualifying Widow(er) with Dependent Child status applies only ifyour spouse died during 2010 or 2011, you have a dependent child, and you meet certain other conditions.

If you aren’t married, divorced, or legally separated, in general your filing status will be Single. However, you might be able to file as Head of Household, which has a higher standard deduction and lower tax rates than the Single filing status. To claim Head of Household, you can’t be married and you must have paid more than half the cost of maintaining a home for yourself and a qualifying person. Head of Household is the status most often claimed in error, so make sure you meet all of the requirements.

You can and should shop around for the best income tax deal. If more than one filing status fits you, choose the one that allows you to pay the lowest taxes. IRS e-file will help you determine the correct filing status, and you can also use the Interactive Tax Assistant at IRS.gov.