My spouse died. What should I do?
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| As a widow or widower, you may file a joint
tax return with your deceased spouse for the tax
year in which he or she died, provided that you do not remarry within that
tax year. If there
is a remarriage within that time, it may be possible to file your tax return
jointly with your new spouse
if all other requirements are met. Generally, a surviving spouse with dependent
children is entitled to file a tax return using the married filing jointly tax tables for the
two tax years following the tax year in which the spouse died.
If you are a surviving spouse filing a joint
tax return and no personal representative has
been appointed, you should sign the tax return and write in the signature area, "filing
as surviving spouse." The final tax return should have the word "Deceased," the
decedent's name, and the date of death written across the top of the tax return.
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| Related tax
information about IRS tax returns for decedents |
Tax Directory Topics:
General Tax Questions |
IRS publications about tax returns for decedents:
For additional information about tax returns for decedents, see IRS
Tax
Topic
356, Decedents. Also see IRS Publication 17, Your Federal
Income Tax. Please read this IMPORTANT
Editor's Note regarding navigating IRS publications with Adobe
Acrobat
Reader.
IRS publications can also be ordered by calling 1-800-829-3676. |
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