This Google™ translation feature, provided on the Franchise Tax Board (FTB) website, is for general information only. Consult with a translator for official business. The web pages currently in English on the FTB website are the official and accurate source for tax information and services we provide. Any differences created in the translation are not binding on the FTB and have no legal effect for compliance or enforcement purposes. If you have any questions related to the information contained in the translation, refer to the English version. We translate some pages on the FTB website into Spanish. These pages do not include the Google™ translation application. For a complete listing of the FTB’s official Spanish pages, visit La esta pagina en Espanol (Spanish home page). We cannot guarantee the accuracy of this translation and shall not be liable for any inaccurate information or changes in the page layout resulting from the translation application tool. Forms, publications, and all applications, such as your MyFTB account, cannot be translated using this Google™ translation application tool. For forms and publications, visit the Forms and Publications search tool. There are five types of tax filing statuses: head of household, qualified widow(er), married filing jointly, married filing separately and single. Your tax filing status can have a big effect on your tax bill and which tax forms you’ll need to fill out. Tax filing status optionsUnmarried people paying at least half the cost of housing and support for others. Married filing separately Married high earners, people who think their spouses may be hiding income, or people whose spouses have tax liability issues. Qualified widow or widower People who lost a spouse recently and are supporting a child at home. Unmarried people who don’t qualify for another filing status. Typically, unmarried people who paid more than half the cost to keep up a home for the year and provided most or all the support for at least one other person for more than half the year.
This filing status gets you bigger tax deductions and more favorable tax brackets than if you just filed single. The standard deduction for single status is $12,950 in 2022 — but it’s $19,400 for head of household. And $50,000 of taxable income will land you in the 22% tax bracket if you're a single filer, but if you're filing as head of household, you'll only be in the 12% bracket. Qualified widow or widowerPeople who lost a spouse recently and are supporting a child at home.
The qualified widow or widower status lets you file as if you were married filing jointly. That gets you a much higher standard deduction and better tax bracket situation than if you filed as single.
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Probably a lower tax bill than if you file separately; your standard deduction — if you don’t itemize — could be higher, and you can take deductions and credits that generally aren’t available if you file separately. Married, filing separatelyHigh earners who are married, people who think their spouses may be hiding income or people whose spouses have tax liability issues. For example, if you're thinking of or are in the process of divorcing and don't trust that your spouse is being upfront about income, this option might be for you. If you've recently married someone who is bringing tax problems into the mix, filing separately might be worth thinking about. Filing separately might also make sense if one spouse has a large number of out-of-pocket medical expenses they would like to deduct but your combined adjusted gross income precludes them from taking full advantage of the deduction.
Usually just a bigger tax bill, but there are a few possible perks.
Unmarried people who don’t qualify for another filing status.
Possibly lower taxes if you make a lot of money. That’s because at the very highest tax brackets, the income levels that determine the tax brackets for married people filing jointly are less than double the income levels that determine the tax brackets for single people. It’s a phenomenon called “the marriage penalty,” and it means married couples end up in higher tax brackets faster than single people do. For example, let’s assume you and your partner were single in 2022 and you each had $325,000 of taxable income. You each use the single tax filing status. You’ll each be in the 35% tax bracket. Now let’s assume you and your partner are married and use the married, filing jointly tax filing status. You still each make $325,000. You might expect to remain in the 35% bracket, but that’s not the case anymore. If you’re married and filing jointly, your income — simply because it’s combined — puts you squarely in the 37% bracket. |