Tax return in year of death…
The husband died in Jan 2010…what will the tax return look like when completing for 2010 in a year from now? I believe the surviving widow can still claim “married filing jointly” and claim 2 exemptions because the death of the spouse occured during the year.
Permalink Submitted by tomd37 on Mon, 2010-02-15 15:17
Married filing jointly filing status – If your spouse died during the year, you are considered married for the whole year and can choose married filing jointly as your filing status. See page 22 of IRS Publication 17.
Qualifying widow(er) with dependent child filing status – If your spouse died in 2010, you can use married filing jointly as your filing status for 2010 if you otherwise qualify for that status. The year of death is the last year for which you can file jointly with your deceased spouse. You may be eligible to use qualifying widow(er) with dependent child as your filing status for 2 years following the year your spouse died. See page 26 of IRS Publication 17 for more information.