Filing Requirements, Filing Status, and Dependents
Filing Requirements
- I have not yet filed my last year's taxes. How much trouble am I in?
- I haven't filed tax returns for the last three years. What should I do?
- Is it possible for someone to be exempt from filing a tax return?
- I am collecting Social Security benefits as well as other income and it is possible that some of my benefits will be taxed. Which form do I need to use?
- I am a full-time college student. My parents claim me as an exemption. I work part time for the college. Do I have to file a tax return?
- My brother died this year and I am filing his tax return. He is due a refund. How do I file his return and obtain the refund?
Filing Status
- What is one's filing status when a spouse dies during the year? Does one need to attach the death certificate to the tax return?
- If I'm married, must I file as married?
- Can I file as single even though my divorce is not final? I did not live with my spouse at all this year.
- Am I better off filing as head of household or as a Qualifying Surviving Spouse?
- Now that my wife and I live apart, should we file a joint return or separate ones and both claim head of household? We have no children.
- If unmarried parents are living together with their child for the entire year, and both parents are contributing to the cost of maintaining the household for the child and themselves, may they both file as head of household?
Claiming Dependents
- My former spouse and I share physical custody of our young child and we both have custody for the same number of days during the year. Which of us is the custodial parent?
- How do we claim our child born in December as our dependent when we don't have her Social Security number?
- I am a single parent with a qualifying child. We live with my mother in her home. The child's other parent did not live with us. My mother and I share the expenses. My AGI is $25,000. My mother's AGI is $32,000. Who can claim my child as a dependent?
- I attend college full time, work, and live with my father. Should my father claim me as a dependent?
- My ex-spouse is claiming our son as a dependent, even though our divorce agreement names me as custodial parent. He claims that because he had physical custody of our son for most of the year, he is entitled to do so. Is this true?