What Filing Status Can You Use?(p6)

Use this filing status if any of the following was true on December 31, 2010.

• You never were married.
• You were legally separated, according to your state law, under a decree of divorce or separate maintenance.
• You were widowed before January 1, 2010, and did not remarry in 2010.

Use this filing status if any of the following apply.

• You were married at the end of 2010, even if you did not live with your spouse at the end of 2010.
• Your spouse died in 2010 and you did not remarry in 2010.
• You were married at the end of 2010, and your spouse died in 2011 before filing a 2010 return.

For federal tax purposes, a marriage means only a legal union between a man and a woman as husband and wife. A husband and wife filing jointly report their combined income and deduct their combined allowable expenses on one return. A husband and wife can file a joint return even if only one had income or if they did not live together all year. However, both persons must sign the return. Once you file a joint return, you cannot choose to file separate returns for that year after the due date of the return.

If you file a joint return, both you and your spouse are generally responsible for the tax and any interest or penalties due on the return. This means that if one spouse does not pay the tax due, the other may have to. However, see Innocent spouse relief on page 22.