Name Section
Enter your name, your home address, and your SSN. Make
sure your last name matches with your SSN.
Note: If your tax information (W-2s, 1099-R, -DIV, - 1099, or other forms) had an old address on them, you can update your address on your tax return.
Filing Status
You can file either Married Filing Jointly (MFJ) or
Married Filing Separately (MFS); Single; Head Of Household (HOH); Qualifying
Widow(er) with a qualifying dependent.
Generally, your marital status on the last day of the
year determines your status for the entire year. If you are unmarried, or if
you are legally separated from your spouse under a divorce or separate
maintenance decree according to your state law, and you do not qualify for
another filing status, your filing status is single.
Generally, to qualify for head of household status, you
must be unmarried and not entitled to file as a qualifying widow or widower
with a dependent child. You must also have provided more than half the cost of
maintaining as your home a household that was the main home for a qualifying
person. You may also qualify for head of household status if you, though
married, file a separate return, your spouse has not lived in your home during
the last six months of the tax year, and you provided more than half the cost
of maintaining as your home a household that was the main home for a qualifying
child for more than one half of your tax year.
If you are married, you and your spouse may file a joint
return or separate returns.
If your spouse died in 2011 and you did not remarry
before the end of the year, you may still file a joint return. This is the last
year for which you may file a joint return with that spouse.
If your spouse died during 2009 or 2010, you may be able
to file as a qualifying widow or widower. To do this, you must meet all four of
the following tests:
·
You were entitled to file a joint return with
your spouse in the year he or she died. It does not matter whether you actually
filed a joint return,
·
You did not remarry before the end of 2011,
·
You have a child, stepchild, adopted child, or
foster child for whom you can claim a dependency exemption, and
·
You paid more than half the cost of keeping up a
home that was the main home for you and that child, for the whole year.
More detailed information on each filing status can be
found in Publication 501, Exemptions, Standard Deduction, and Filing
Information.
Dependents
If you want to claim a dependency exemption for a person,
all five of the following dependency tests must be met:
·
The member of household or relationship test,
·
The citizen or resident test,
·
The joint return test,
·
The gross income test, and
·
The support test.
The first test is the member of household or relationship
test. To meet this test, a person must either live with you for the entire year
as a member of your household or be related to you. The Form 1040A Instructions
and Form 1040 Instructions
list all relatives who meet the relationship test. Your spouse is never
considered your dependent. A person is not considered a member of your
household if, at any time during the tax year, your relationship with that
person violates local law. If a person was born or died during the year and was
a member of your household during the entire part of the year he or she was
alive, the person meets the member of household test.
The second test is the citizen or resident test. To meet
this test, a person must be a citizen of the United States, resident alien, or
a resident of Canada or Mexico. To find out who is a resident alien, refer to Resident and Non-Resident Aliens,
or refer to Publication 519.
The third test is the joint return test. Generally, you
are not allowed to claim a person as a dependent if he or she files a joint
return. However, you may claim a person who filed a joint return merely to
claim a refund of tax. This exception applies if neither the person nor the
person's spouse is required to file a return and no tax liability would have
existed for either the person or the person's spouse if each had filed a
separate return.
The fourth test is the gross income test. Generally, you
may not claim as a dependent a person who had gross income of $3,700 or more
for 2011. Gross income is all income in the form of money, goods, property, or
services that is not exempt from tax. There are two exceptions to the gross
income test. If your child is under age 19 at the end of the year, or is a
full-time student under the age of 24 at the end of the year, the gross income
test does not apply.
The fifth test is the support test. To claim someone as
your dependent you must provide more than half of that person's total support
during the year. A special rule applies to children of divorced or separated
parents, or to children of parents who have lived apart at all times during the
last six months of the year. Generally, the custodial parent is treated as the person
who provides more than half of the child's support. The noncustodial parent can
meet this test if the custodial parent releases his or her claim to the
exemption on Form 8332 (PDF), or by a substantially similar written statement.
Refer to Publication 501, Exemptions, Standard Deduction, and Filing
Information for more information.
You must include a valid social security number,
individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN), or adoption taxpayer
identification number (ATIN) for each dependent claimed on your tax return or
the exemption will be disallowed. For more information on the ITIN, refer to Individual
Taxpayer Identification Number - Form W-7 or refer to Publication 1915 (PDF).
For more information on the ATIN, refer to Publication 968, Tax Benefits for
Adoption.
Exemptions
There are two
types of exemptions you may be able to take:
- Personal
exemptions for yourself and your spouse, and
- Exemptions for
dependents (dependency exemptions).
While each is
worth the same amount ($3,700 for 2011), different rules apply to each type.
Personal
Exemptions
You are
generally allowed one exemption for yourself. If you are married, you may be
allowed one exemption for your spouse. These are called personal exemptions.
Your Own
Exemption
You can take
one exemption for yourself unless you can be claimed as a dependent by another
taxpayer. If another taxpayer is entitled to claim you as a dependent, you
cannot take an exemption for yourself even if the other taxpayer does not
actually claim you as a dependent.
Your Spouse's
Exemption
Your spouse is
never considered your dependent.
Separate
return. If
you file a separate return, you can claim an exemption for your spouse only if
your spouse had no gross income, is not filing a return, and was not the
dependent of another taxpayer. This is true even if the other taxpayer does not
actually claim your spouse as a dependent. This is also true if your spouse is
a nonresident alien.
Death of
spouse. If your spouse died during the year and you file a joint
return for yourself and your deceased spouse, you generally can claim your
spouse's exemption under the rules just explained under Joint return .
If you file a separate return for the year, you may be able to claim your
spouse's exemption under the rules just described in Separate return .
If you
remarried during the year, you cannot take an exemption for your deceased spouse.
If you are a
surviving spouse without gross income and you remarry in the year your spouse
died, you can be claimed as an exemption on both the final separate return of
your deceased spouse and the separate return of your new spouse for that year.
If you file a joint return with your new spouse, you can be claimed as an
exemption only on that return.
Divorced or
separated spouse. If you obtained a final
decree of divorce or separate maintenance by the end of the year, you cannot
take your former spouse's exemption. This rule applies even if you provided all
of your former spouse's support.
You are
allowed one exemption for each person you can claim as a dependent. You can
claim an exemption for a dependent even if your dependent files a return.
The term “dependent” means:
A qualifying
child, or
A qualifying
relative.
You can claim
an exemption for a qualifying child or qualifying relative only if these three tests
are met.
·
Dependent
taxpayer test.
·
Joint
return test.
·
Citizen
or resident test.
Dependent not allowed a personal exemption. If you can claim an exemption for your dependent,
the dependent cannot claim his or her own personal exemption on his or her own
tax return. This is true even if you do not claim the dependent's exemption on
your return.
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