Question

A married taxpayer who has lived apart from their spouse for more than three years, who has no qualifying children or qualifying relatives, and who no longer is able to contact their spouse through any means, files using what filing status?

Answer 1

As per the Internal Revenue Services, there are five tax filing status available to any individual – single, married filing jointly, married filing separately, Head of household and qualifying widower with dependent child.

As per IRS, a taxpayer who is not divorced by order of Court as on last day of tax year is still considered legally married for taxation purposes even if living apart. So such ‘married’ taxpayers have three tax filing status options – married filing jointly, married filing separately and Head of household.

However, for Head of household, certain conditions must be met one of which is that the taxpayer must have a qualifying child or qualifying dependent. In this case, the taxpayer has none. So, he cannot file Head of household status.

He can file married filing jointly or separately. However, in married filing jointly status, the taxpayers are jointly liable for the tax return filed (even if living separately). So, the taxpayers are jointly liable for the tax information furnished by their spouses and can be held accountable for any misinformation by their spouse.

Since the taxpayer is not in contact with his spouse, it is better to file married filing separately in order to safeguard his legal interests.