Question

Head of Household

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
March 31, 2025
1 reply
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The worksheet for standard deduction on IRS.gov indicates that if a widow with spouse dying prior to 2024, Head of Household applies - based on their simple questions.

I am a widow, with no qualifying dependent, and spouse died in 2008. Attempting to verify difference in calculation between Turbotax, and IRS.gov.

Thank you.

Not A Product Question

VolvoGirl

Sorry for your loss. Yes you need a dependent to qualify for Head of Household.

You can't check the HOH box until you have entered dependent info and ssn. Enter them under My Info. Then Turbo Tax will automatically give you Head of Household if you qualify.

See IRS Pub 501 page 10 for qualifying person.

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p501.pdf

Who is a qualifying person for Head of Household

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/family/help/what-is-a-qualifying-person-for-head-of-household/00/26624

You can file a Joint return the year your spouse died. For the next two years following a husband's or wife's death, the surviving spouse can file as a qualifying widow or widower if they have a qualifying child. That basically lets you continue to use the same tax brackets that apply to married-filing-jointly returns. After the year of death if you don't have a child you file as Single.

My husband died in 2023 too. I filed 2023 as normal Joint. For 2024 i filed as Single on a new return and did not transfer from 2023. If you are using the Online version you need to set up a new account for yourself and not transfer from 2023.