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Can husband and wife who have never filed jointly, because they broke up, but not legally divorced and get back together, begin filing as married without being penalized?

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
June 6, 2019
2 replies
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I had always filed as HoH because I had a child before we married. When my marriage fell apart, neither one of us bothered to file for divorce. We now have two children together, but maintain separate lives and residences. For the last two years I got EIC for one child, but he claimed the child on his taxes. The other child was just born last year. We are considering becoming one household. Moving forward would there be any penalties since we were legally married? Should we file jointly or married filing separately, because I have another child that I provide for 100%?

TurboTax Premier Windows

Best answer by Bsch4477

File jointly. There will be no penalty.

B

Bsch4477Answer

Employee

File jointly. There will be no penalty.

T

TomD8

Employee

The choice of filing status (MFJ, MFS, or HOH if you qualify) is one you make each year. You can change your filing status from one year to the next without any penalty.

A person who's legally married can file HOH if they did not live with their spouse at any time during the last 6 months of the particular tax year, and they paid more than half the cost of keeping up a home in which a qualifying child or dependent lived with them for at least 6 months.

**Answers are correct to the best of my ability but do not constitute tax or legal advice.