2024 taxes

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
January 29, 2025
2 replies
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My ex wife and I have 3 kids under the age of 18, we have been living apart for almost 2 years and are not officially divorced.

can we file our taxes, married filing jointly and both claim HOH?

what would be best option to take to get our max refund?

Ask the Experts - Family Tax II - Jan 2025

Best answer by DawnC

Married filing Jointly is usually the best option and since you were still married as of 12/31/2024, you have that option. You can only have one filing status, so you can't be both MFJ and Head of Household. For both of you to claim Head of Household, you would both need to have at least one qualifying child and be paying for more than half of a household's expenses as well as been living apart in separate households.

As stated above, to file as Head of Household, you have to:

Pay for more than half of the expenses for a qualifying household
Be considered unmarried on the last day of the tax year (or not lived with your spouse at all for the last 6 months of the year)
Have a qualifying child or dependent

xmasbaby0

Employee

No. Those are two different filing statuses. You cannot combine filing a joint return with Head of Household.

Who did the children live with the most? Who did they spend at least 183 nights with? If one of you has had the children and you lived apart, ONE of you could file Head of Household. The other parent would file married filing separately.

Or---if you both agree to a joint return, you can do that.

If you were legally married at the end of 2024 your filing choices are married filing jointly or married filing separately.

Married Filing Jointly is usually better, even if one spouse had little or no income. When you file a joint return, you and your spouse will get the married filing jointly standard deduction of $29,200 (+ $1550 for each spouse 65 or older) for 2024. You are eligible for more credits including education credits, earned income credit, child and dependent care credit, and a larger income limit to receive the child tax credit.

If you choose to file married filing separately, both spouses have to file the same way—either you both itemize or you both use standard deduction. Your tax rate will be higher than on a joint return.

Some of the special rules for filing separately include: you cannot get earned income credit, education credits, adoption credits, or deductions for student loan interest. A higher percent of your Social Security benefits may be taxable. Your limit for SALT (state and local taxes and sales tax) will be only $5000 per spouse. In many cases you will not be able to take the child and dependent care credit. The amount you can contribute to a retirement account will be affected. If you live in a community property state, you will be required to provide additional information regarding your spouse’s income. ( Community property states: AZ, CA, ID, LA, NV, NM, TX, WA, WI)

If you are using online TurboTax to prepare your returns, you will need to prepare two separate returns and pay twice since with online, you get one return per fee.

https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tips/marriage/should-you-and-your-spouse-file-taxes-jointly-or-separately/L7gyjnqyM?srsltid=AfmBOopGqCNexowW0pYgvsf7ycIkrx4VjO_63UXv6vSnfu3UEGQiKQTh

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/income/getting-married-mean-taxes/L2RgmagpE_US_en_US?uid=m69on7t0

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/taxation/married-filing-separately-community-property/L11CeLUMs_US_en_US?uid=m69ousyh

**Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to offer the most correct information possible. The poster disclaims any legal responsibility for the accuracy of the information that is contained in this post.**

Godawgs123Author

Thanks for the reply,

we split custody 50/50, I’m not exactly sure if there was more days spent with myself or mom throughout the year. I could try and break down the days if needed.

my ex is saying she thinks it’s best if we file our taxes together but each claim HOH? I don’t think that’s possible? I may be wrong.

We were legally married at the end of 2024. Should we file, “married filing jointly”

DawnCAnswer

Employee

As stated above, to file as Head of Household, you have to:

Pay for more than half of the expenses for a qualifying household
Be considered unmarried on the last day of the tax year (or not lived with your spouse at all for the last 6 months of the year)
Have a qualifying child or dependent

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Vanessa A

Yes and No. You can still file as married filing jointly as long as you are married as of December 31st of the tax year.

If you file a joint return, then you would not be able to file as Head of Household.

Also, unless you each have custody of one or more of the kids for more than 6 months out of the year, one of you would not be able to file as head of household.

To file as Head of Household, you have to:

Pay for more than half of the expenses for a qualifying household
Be considered unmarried on the last day of the tax year (or not lived with your spouse at all for the last 6 months of the year)
Have a qualifying child or dependent

**Say "Thanks" by clicking the thumb icon in a post**Mark the post that answers your question by clicking on "Mark as Best Answer"