Filing Status After Divorce: Single or Married Filing Separately?
Got divorced in July and super confused about my filing status for taxes. Does anyone know if I should file as single or married filing separately? The IRS website is giving me mixed signals and I don't want to mess this up and delay my refund.
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Omar Farouk
Your filing status is determined by your marital status on December 31st of the tax year. If your divorce was finalized before December 31st, you file as Single. If it wasn't finalized until after December 31st, you'd need to file as Married Filing Separately or Married Filing Jointly.
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Freya Christensen
omg thank you! My divorce was final in July so I guess that means Single 🙌
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Chloe Davis
quick follow up - does this apply to legal separation too?
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Omar Farouk
Legal separation is different - you're still technically married for IRS purposes unless you have a final divorce decree
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AstroAlpha
Hey guys just wanted to mention that I found this really helpful tool called taxr.ai - it analyzed my whole transcript situation and gave me super specific guidance for my divorce situation. It costs like $5 but saved me hours of research and probably prevented me from making mistakes https://taxr.ai
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Diego Chavez
That sounds interesting! How accurate is it with complicated situations like divorce?
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AstroAlpha
Its actually pretty amazing with complex situations. It caught things I wouldn't have even thought about, like how to handle shared assets and dependents. Definitely worth the $5 💯
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Diego Chavez
Just tried it and WOW you weren't kidding! It literally spelled everything out for my situation. Best $5 I've spent on tax stuff fr fr 🔥
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Anastasia Smirnova
been there done that lol. Make sure you coordinate w/ your ex about who claims the kids (if you have any) cuz that can be a whole other mess 😩
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Freya Christensen
no kids thankfully! But good looking out
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Sean O'Brien
Whatever you do dont file married filing separately unless you absolutely have to... The tax brackets are terrible and you lose lots of deductions js
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Zara Shah
idk why the irs makes everything so complicated fr. like why cant they just tell us what to do instead of making us figure it out 🤡
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Luca Bianchi
fr fr tax szn is literally my villain origin story
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GalacticGuardian
dont forget to change your w4 at work too! Your withholding will be different as a single person
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Freya Christensen
omg i totally forgot about that tysm!
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