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Solved

Deceased spouse

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
February 20, 2025
2 replies
0 views

I am not executor of my deceased husband's will. IRS instructions advise to file "married, filing separately". I do not see that choice in Turbo Tax 2024.

Best answer by VolvoGirl

Is there a reason you don’t want to file a Joint return? Did you file Joint for 2023? If he passed in 2024, You can file a Joint return the year your spouse died. For the next two years following a husband's or wife's death, the surviving spouse can file as a qualifying widow or widower if they have a qualifying child. That basically lets you continue to use the same tax brackets that apply to married-filing-jointly returns. After the year of death if you don't have a child you file as Single.

On the screen that says Were you Married? You need to indicate that you were married but you do not want to file this return together with your spouse:

I am sorry for your loss.

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

I will give that a try. It is confusing since he passed away in April. Thank you.

VolvoGirlAnswer

Employee

Is there a reason you don’t want to file a Joint return? Did you file Joint for 2023? If he passed in 2024, You can file a Joint return the year your spouse died. For the next two years following a husband's or wife's death, the surviving spouse can file as a qualifying widow or widower if they have a qualifying child. That basically lets you continue to use the same tax brackets that apply to married-filing-jointly returns. After the year of death if you don't have a child you file as Single.