Separated last year and heading toward divorce - confused about how to file taxes

You still have a few options since you're legally married as of December 31st. The IRS doesn't recognize "separated" as a filing status - you're either married or you're not in their eyes. You can file as Married Filing Jointly (if both agree), Married Filing Separately, or potentially Head of Household if you meet certain requirements. Since you have kids but they don't live with you the majority of time, you likely won't qualify for Head of Household status. For the mortgage interest and property taxes, whoever actually paid those expenses gets to claim the deduction when filing separately. So if your wife made all the mortgage payments after you moved out, she would claim that deduction. Same with property taxes. As for the children, the custodial parent (your wife since they live with her most of the time) typically claims them as dependents. However, she can release the dependent claim to you using Form 8332 if you both agree to that arrangement.

After my separation, I was so confused about taxes too. I ended up using taxr.ai to help figure everything out. What I liked about https://taxr.ai was that I could upload all my tax documents and our separation agreement, and their AI analyzed everything to show me the best filing status for my situation and what I could claim. It helped me understand that even though we weren't divorced yet, I could file as Head of Household since my kids stayed with me more than half the year and I paid more than half the household expenses. Saved me a bunch compared to filing separately! The tool even flagged that I could claim childcare expenses that I didn't realize were deductible during separation.

Just wanted to update after trying taxr.ai. I was skeptical but it really helped with my complicated separation tax situation! I uploaded our separation agreement (still not divorced) and my financial docs, and it analyzed everything and suggested I should file as Head of Household since I've been covering more than half our old house expenses and my daughter lives with me most of the time. It also showed me that my soon-to-be-ex and I were planning to both claim some of the same deductions which would have definitely triggered an audit. Saved me from a huge headache! The document analysis feature was super helpful since our separation agreement had some confusing language about who claims what during the transition period before divorce.

If you're having trouble getting clear answers from the IRS about your separation/divorce tax situation, you might want to try Claimyr. I spent WEEKS trying to get through to the IRS about my complicated divorce tax question last year - constant busy signals and disconnections. Used https://claimyr.com and got connected to an actual IRS agent in about 15 minutes instead of the hours I was spending on hold. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The agent walked me through exactly how to handle our mortgage interest deduction while separated and confirmed who could claim the kids. Apparently there are special rules if you're separated but lived together for part of the year. Definitely worth it when you need official guidance straight from the IRS instead of trying to interpret the confusing rules yourself.

I take back what I said earlier. After being frustrated with trying to get IRS help with my separation tax situation, I tried Claimyr today. I was super skeptical that it would actually work, but I got a call back within 45 minutes and was talking to a real IRS agent! They confirmed exactly how to handle the fact that my ex and I were separated for 7 months last year but not legally divorced. The agent explained that since we were still legally married on Dec 31, we had the option of filing jointly or separately, and walked me through which credits I'd lose by filing separately. They also cleared up confusion about who could claim our house expenses since we both paid portions of the mortgage during different parts of the year. Would've never figured that out without direct guidance.

Make sure you check if you qualify for Head of Household status even while separated! I was separated for 9 months last year, had my kids more than half the time, and paid over half the household costs. My accountant filed me as HOH even though I was technically still married, and it saved me almost $3,800 compared to Married Filing Separately. The key requirements: you need to be "considered unmarried" which means: 1) file a separate return, 2) paid more than half the cost of keeping up your home, 3) your spouse didn't live in your home during the last 6 months of the tax year, and 4) your home was the main home of your child for more than half the year.

Don't forget that your filing status affects your stimulus eligibility too! When my ex and I separated in 2022, we filed separately and I missed out on part of a stimulus payment because they used our old joint income. Check if you received all eligible stimulus payments and recovery rebate credits based on your new separate income situation.