SS Income with Death of Spouse

Willyt1903

My spouse passed away in 2024 after an illness, we normally would file joint but he had a payout on his Retirement plan that would push my income over the limit for Marketplace insurance and income for SS. If I file single or head of household I would still be over about 10K on the Market place income before deductions as a result of a payout on part of my retirement. With only me in the household since his death do I file single or head of household to reduce as much liability as possible?

AleceN

Hello! Thank you for contacting the FreeTaxUSA Community.

If your spouse passed away in 2024, you can file as Married Filing Jointly or Married Filing Separately. The IRS considers someone married for the entire year that their spouse died if they don't remarry during the year.

Here is a link to the IRS website for additional information:

https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/how-to-file-a-final-tax-return-for-someone-who-has-passed-away#:~:text=The%20IRS%20considers%20someone%20married,jointly%20or%20married%20filing%20separately.

Willyt1903

This did not answer my question of

With only me in the household since my spouses death would I benefit to file single or head of household to reduce as much liability as possible on my behalf? His income would most likely cause me to have to pay taxes on my SS.

rachels

https://community.freetaxusa.com/discussion/comment/3219#Comment_3219

If your spouse passed away in 2024, you generally cannot file as Single on your 2024 tax return at all, since the IRS considers you to be married for the full year, even if your spouse passed away during 2024.

You would typically only qualify to file with the Head of Household status if you paid to keep up a home for a qualifying person (not your spouse) and were ASLO considered unmarried during the tax year. For more information on the Head of Household filing status, see:

https://www.irs.gov/publications/p501#en_US_2023_publink1000220774

In other words, your question is likely not applicable to your situation, since your spouse was alive for part of 2024. Generally, your two options would be Married Filing Jointly or Married Filing Separately.

If you would like, you can log into your FreeTaxUSA account and enter approximations of your income and other information for 2024 so you can get an idea of what to expect when it comes time to file in January.