Ask a CPA

No. To use the Head of Household filing status, you must have paid over half the cost of keeping up a home for you and a child or other qualifying person for over half the year.

No. If you are married (as of the last day of the year),you may elect to file using the status of married Jointly or married Separately. Generally, separate tax returns may be more beneficial and save both people money, especially when both people have earnings and taxable income, and high medical or miscellaneous itemized deductions. Filing separately may allow more of the phased-out itemized deductions which are based on the taxpayer(s) Adjusted Gross Income.

No. If you are married on the last day of the year, you must file either married filing jointly or married filing separately. You are not allowed to file as a single or Head of Household.

If you are Filing as Married filing separately, you must have lived apart from your spouse for the last 6 months of the year to take advantage of the dependent care, earned income, elderly credits and the $25,000 rental loss allowance.
Also Social Security will be 85% taxable.
Speak to your local CPA about the tax strategy of using married filing jointly or married filing separately.

If you are filing as married filing separately, both persons must file using either the standard or itemized deduction amounts. One spouse cannot use the standard deduction and the other use the itemized deduction amount.

Some spouses have had problems with the IRS in the past and still owe the IRS taxes. When you file a joint return, you and your spouse are both equally responsible for the taxes owed on that return. Any refund you might have been entitled to could be used to pay your spouses existing liability with the IRS or the state. Lastly, some people do not want their spouse to be aware of all of their financial involvement.

If the filing status you are using for filing your individual income tax return is "married filing separately", and your spouse itemizes his or her deductions, then you must use your itemized deductions even if your standard deduction exceeds your itemized deductions.

In the year you are divorced you must file as single or head of household if you have a child living with you.

The deduction for student loan interest will continue to be available to every person who is legally obligated to repay a student loan through the year 2012.
Taxpayers who have student loans are allowed to deduct up to $2,500 in annual interest payments on the loan directly from their gross income, subject to phase-out rules.
Your lender will send you a Form 1098-E. The amount of interest you paid on your student loans for the year will be reported on Form 1098-E, box 1.
The $2,500 maximum deduction for interest paid on student loans begins to phase out for a married taxpayers filing a joint returns at $125,000 and phases out completely at $155,000, an increase of $5,000 from the phase out limits for tax year 2011.
For single taxpayers, the phase out ranges remain at the 2011 levels.($60,000-75,000).
Qualifying loans include any debt incurred to pay for higher education expenses for yourself, spouse or a dependent at the time the debt was incurred.
The student must have been enrolled on at least a half-time basis when the loan was made in order for the interest to be deductible. The student will receive a form verifying his or her half-time basis eligibility.

Qualified educational expenses would include tuition and required fees, but would not include room and board, insurance, transportation or other personal living or family expenses, medical expenses, supplies or equipment.
the American opportunity tax credit includes expenses for course-related books, supplies and equipment that are not necessarily paid to the educational institution.
The credits are subject to income limitations. The credits are not available for married filing separate returns. Both credits are claimed on IRS Form 8863.
The American Opportunity and Lifetime Learning credits are two federal credits available for qualifying higher education expenses paid to eligible educational institutions.
There may also be similar state credits or deductions available. Generally, the American Opportunity credit is available for the qualified expenses for the first 4 years of post-secondary education leading to a degree.
The Lifetime Learning credit is available for both degree and non-degree courses. This includes undergraduate courses not claimed as a American Opportunity credit, graduate studies, and students acquiring or improving their job skills.