Married Filing Separately

Married Filing Separately means:
a filing status option for married couples in which each spouse wishes to be responsible only for his or her individual tax return. In noncommunity property states, each taxpayer would report only his or her own income and deductions. In community property states, each taxpayer would report his or her own income and deductions from separate property and half of the income and deductions from community property. IRC (check if this IRC provision is current here) § 1(d).

For Married Filing Separate filing status, the taxpayer must be married. This method may benefit the taxpayer if he/she wants to be responsible only for his/her own tax or if this method results in less tax than a joint return. If the taxpayer and his/her spouse do not agree to file a joint return, the taxpayer may have to use this filing status.

Description and Definition of Married Filing Separately

A filing status a married couple can use if they are married as of the end of the tax year. Each spouse can file a separate income tax return with their own income and deductions.

Resources

See Also

Further Reading

• Married Filing Separately in the West's Tax Law Dictionary
• Married Filing Separately in “A Dictionary of Taxation”