Free Filing Options for People Filing Married Separately

Your filing status determines key aspects of your tax return, including your filing requirements, standard deduction, eligibility for certain credits, and the tax rate applied to your income. There are multiple filing statuses, including Married Filing Separately and Married Filing Jointly.

Married Filing Separately means you are legally married but choose to file your own tax return instead of filing jointly with your spouse. This status is often used to keep finances separate or to address specific tax situations. On a joint return, you report your combined income and deduct your combined allowable expenses. If your spouse does not agree to file a joint return, you may be required to use the Married Filing Separately status.

It is important to know that Washington is a community property state. This means that when filing separately, each spouse’s federal return will report half of their own income and half of their spouse’s income unless:

• The income is not community income (such as Social Security payments, or interest from an account that was last funded prior to marriage)
• You meet the conditions for “Spouses living apart all year”

For more information on how community property laws affect your federal tax return filing, see Publication 555, Community Property.

Filing Married Separately often results in fewer benefits compared to filing jointly. This filing status has higher tax rates than Married Filing Jointly, and many credits and deductions are reduced or unavailable. However, there are situations where filing separately may be beneficial for other reasons.

• Separation or Pending Divorce: If you are preparing for a divorce, separating finances early may be beneficial. Some individuals opt to file separately before finalizing a divorce.
• Tax Liability: Filing separately can serve as a protective measure to avoid being held responsible for a spouse’s tax liabilities, such as tax evasion or past-due taxes.
• Student Loan Repayments: If you are paying for student loans using an income-based repayment plan, excluding your spouse’s income may reduce your repayment amount.
• Casualty Losses: If you experienced property damage from a sudden and unusual event and your joint Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) is too high to claim the losses, filing separately may allow you to claim those losses on your taxes.
• Spouse is a Non-Resident Alien: If you are legally married, you cannot file using Single status. However, if your spouse was not a tax resident of the United States and does not have a Tax Identification Number (SSN or ITIN), you can still file a tax return using the Married Filing Separately Status.

If you choose the Married Filing Separately status, you can still file for free using our self-filing options:

AGI is Adjusted Gross Income. It is used to calculate the amount of most tax credits, refunds, and taxes owed and is often used for government programs and loans. For more information on commonly used tax terminology, check out our Tax Terminology Guide.