The IRS has created a page on IRS.gov for information about Publication 504, at www.IRS.gov/pub504. Information about any future developments affecting Publication 504 (such as legislation enacted after we release it) will be posted on that page.

This publication explains tax rules that apply if you are divorced or separated from your spouse. It covers general filing information and can help you choose your filing status. It also can help you decide which exemptions you are entitled to claim, including exemptions for dependents.

The publication also discusses payments and transfers of property that often occur as a result of divorce and how you must treat them on your tax return. Examples include alimony, child support, other court-ordered payments, property settlements, and transfers of individual retirement arrangements. In addition, this publication also explains deductions allowed for some of the costs of obtaining a divorce and how to handle tax withholding and estimated tax payments.

The last part of the publication explains special rules that may apply to persons who live in community property states.

We welcome your comments about this publication and your suggestions for future editions.

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Internal Revenue Service
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If you have a tax question, check the information available on IRS.gov or call 1-800-829-1040. We cannot answer tax questions sent to either of the above addresses.

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Your filing status is used in determining whether you must file a return, your standard deduction, and the correct tax. It may also be used in determining whether you can claim certain other deductions and credits. The filing status you can choose depends partly on your marital status on the last day of your tax year.

If you are unmarried, your filing status is single or, if you meet certain requirements, head of household or qualifying widow(er). If you are married, your filing status is either married filing a joint return or married filing a separate return. For information about the single and qualifying widow(er) filing statuses, see Publication 501.

For federal tax purposes, a marriage means only a legal union between a man and a woman as husband and wife. The word "spouse" means a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife.

You are unmarried for the whole year if either of the following applies.

• You have obtained a final decree of divorce or separate maintenance by the last day of your tax year. You must follow your state law to determine if you are divorced or legally separated.  Exception. If you and your spouse obtain a divorce in one year for the sole purpose of filing tax returns as unmarried individuals, and at the time of divorce you intend to remarry each other and do so in the next tax year, you and your spouse must file as married individuals.
  
• You have obtained a decree of annulment, which holds that no valid marriage ever existed. You must file amended returns (Form 1040X, Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return) for all tax years affected by the annulment that are not closed by the statute of limitations. The statute of limitations generally does not end until 3 years after the due date of your original return. On the amended return you will change your filing status to single, or if you meet certain requirements, head of household.

You are married for the whole year if you are separated but you have not obtained a final decree of divorce or separate maintenance by the last day of your tax year. An interlocutory decree is not a final decree.

If you live apart from your spouse, under certain circumstances, you may be considered unmarried and can file as head of household. See Head of Household, later.

If you are married, you and your spouse can choose to file a joint return. If you file jointly, you both must include all your income, exemptions, deductions, and credits on that return. You can file a joint return even if one of you had no income or deductions.

To file a joint return, at least one of you must be a U.S. citizen or resident alien at the end of the tax year. If either of you was a nonresident alien at any time during the tax year, you can file a joint return only if you agree to treat the nonresident spouse as a resident of the United States. This means that your combined worldwide incomes are subject to U.S. income tax. These rules are explained in Publication 519, U.S. Tax Guide for Aliens.

Both you and your spouse generally must sign the return, or it will not be considered a joint return.

Both you and your spouse may be held responsible, jointly and individually, for the tax and any interest or penalty due on your joint return. This means that one spouse may be held liable for all the tax due even if all the income was earned by the other spouse.

If you are divorced, you are jointly and individually responsible for any tax, interest, and penalties due on a joint return for a tax year ending before your divorce. This responsibility applies even if your divorce decree states that your former spouse will be responsible for any amounts due on previously filed joint returns.

In some cases, a spouse may be relieved of the tax, interest, and penalties on a joint return. You can ask for relief no matter how small the liability.

There are three types of relief available.

• Innocent spouse relief.
• Separation of liability, which applies to joint filers who are divorced, widowed, legally separated, or who have not lived together for the 12 months ending on the date election of this relief is filed.
• Equitable relief.

Married persons who live in community property states, but who did not file joint returns, may also qualify for relief from liability arising from community property law or for equitable relief. See Relief from liability arising from community property law, later, under Community Property.

Each kind of relief has different requirements. You must file Form 8857 to request relief under any of these categories. Publication 971 explains these kinds of relief and who may qualify for them. You can also find information on our website at IRS.gov.

The overpayment shown on your joint return may be used to pay the past-due amount of your spouse's debts. This includes your spouse's federal tax, state income tax, child or spousal support payments, or a federal nontax debt, such as a student loan. You can get a refund of your share of the overpayment if you qualify as an injured spouse.

You are an injured spouse if you file a joint return and all or part of your share of the overpayment was, or is expected to be, applied against your spouse's past-due debts. An injured spouse can get a refund for his or her share of the overpayment that would otherwise be used to pay the past-due amount.

To be considered an injured spouse, you must:

1. Have made and reported tax payments (such as federal income tax withheld from wages or estimated tax payments), or claimed a refundable tax credit, such as the earned income credit or additional child tax credit on the joint return, and
2. Not be legally obligated to pay the past-due amount.

If you are an injured spouse, you must file Form 8379 to have your portion of the overpayment refunded to you. Follow the instructions for the form.

If you have not filed your joint return and you know that your joint refund will be offset, file Form 8379 with your return. You should receive your refund within 14 weeks from the date the paper return is filed or within 11 weeks from the date the return is filed electronically.

If you filed your joint return and your joint refund was offset, file Form 8379 by itself. When filed after offset, it can take up to 8 weeks to receive your refund. Do not attach the previously filed tax return, but do include copies of all Forms W-2 and W-2G for both spouses and any Forms 1099 that show income tax withheld.

If you and your spouse file separate returns, you should each report only your own income, exemptions, deductions, and credits on your individual return. You can file a separate return even if only one of you had income. For information on exemptions you can claim on your separate return, see Exemptions, later.

If you live in a community property state and file a separate return, your income may be separate income or community income for income tax purposes. For more information, see Community Income under Community Property, later.

If you and your spouse file separately, you each are responsible only for the tax due on your own return.

If you and your spouse file separate returns and one of you itemizes deductions, the other spouse cannot use the standard deduction and should also itemize deductions.

You may be able to claim itemized deductions on a separate return for certain expenses that you paid separately or jointly with your spouse. See Table 1, later.

Some married couples file separate returns because each wants to be responsible only for his or her own tax. There is no joint liability. But in almost all instances, if you file separate returns, you will pay more combined federal tax than you would with a joint return. This is because the following special rules apply if you file a separate return.

1. Your tax rate generally will be higher than it would be on a joint return.
2. Your exemption amount for figuring the alternative minimum tax will be half of that allowed a joint return filer.
3. You cannot take the credit for child and dependent care expenses in most cases.
4. You cannot take the earned income credit.
5. You cannot take the exclusion or credit for adoption expenses in most instances.
6. You cannot take the credit for higher education expenses (American opportunity and lifetime learning credits), the deduction for student loan interest, or the tuition and fees deduction.
7. You cannot exclude the interest from qualified savings bonds that you used for higher education expenses.
8. If you lived with your spouse at any time during the tax year:
   1. You cannot claim the credit for the elderly or the disabled, and
   2. You will have to include in income more (up to 85%) of any social security or equivalent railroad retirement benefits you received.
9. Your income limits that reduce the child tax credit and the retirement savings contributions credit are half of the limits for a joint return filer.
10. Your capital loss deduction limit is $1,500 (instead of $3,000 on a joint return).
11. Your basic standard deduction, if allowable, is half of that allowed a joint return filer. See Itemized deductions, earlier.
12. Your first-time homebuyer credit is limited to $4,000 (instead of $8,000 if you filed a joint return). If the special rule for long-time residents of the same main home applies, the credit is limited to $3,250 (instead of $6,500 if you filed a joint return).

If either you or your spouse (or both of you) file a separate return, you generally can change to a joint return any time within 3 years from the due date (not including extensions) of the separate return or returns. This applies to a return either of you filed claiming married filing separately, single, or head of household filing status. Use Form 1040X to change your filing status.

After the due date of your return, you and your spouse cannot file separate returns if you previously filed a joint return.

A personal representative for a decedent can change from a joint return elected by the surviving spouse to a separate return for the decedent. The personal representative has 1 year from the due date (including extensions) of the joint return to make the change.

Filing as head of household has the following advantages.

• You can claim the standard deduction even if your spouse files a separate return and itemizes deductions.
• Your standard deduction is higher than is allowed if you claim a filing status of single or married filing separately.
• Your tax rate usually will be lower than it is if you claim a filing status of single or married filing separately.
• You may be able to claim certain credits (such as the dependent care credit and the earned income credit) you cannot claim if your filing status is married filing separately.
• Income limits that reduce your child tax credit and retirement savings contributions credit are higher than the income limits if you claim a filing status of married filing separately.

You may be able to file as head of household if you meet all the following requirements.

• You are unmarried or "considered unmarried" on the last day of the year.
• You paid more than half the cost of keeping up a home for the year.
• A "qualifying person" lived with you in the home for more than half the year (except for temporary absences, such as school). However, if the "qualifying person" is your dependent parent, he or she does not have to live with you. See Special rule for parent, later, under Qualifying person.

You are considered unmarried on the last day of the tax year if you meet all the following tests.

• You file a separate return. A separate return includes a return claiming married filing separately, single, or head of household filing status.
• You paid more than half the cost of keeping up your home for the tax year.
• Your spouse did not live in your home during the last 6 months of the tax year. Your spouse is considered to live in your home even if he or she is temporarily absent due to special circumstances. See Temporary absences, later.
• Your home was the main home of your child, stepchild, or foster child for more than half the year. (See Qualifying person, below, for rules applying to a child's birth, death, or temporary absence during the year.)
• You must be able to claim an exemption for the child. However, you meet this test if you cannot claim the exemption only because the noncustodial parent can claim the child using the rule described later in Special rule for divorced or separated parents (or parents who live apart) under Exemptions for Dependents. The general rules for claiming an exemption for a dependent are shown later in Table 3.

If your spouse was a nonresident alien at any time during the tax year, and you have not chosen to treat your spouse as a resident alien, you are considered unmarried for head of household purposes. However, your spouse is not a qualifying person for head of household purposes. You must have another qualifying person and meet the other requirements to file as head of household.

You are keeping up a home only if you pay more than half the cost of its upkeep for the year. This includes rent, mortgage interest, real estate taxes, insurance on the home, repairs, utilities, and food eaten in the home. This does not include the cost of clothing, education, medical treatment, vacations, life insurance, or transportation for any member of the household.

Table 2, later, shows who can be a qualifying person. Any person not described in Table 2 is not a qualifying person.

Generally, the qualifying person must live with you for more than half of the year.

If your qualifying person is your father or mother, you may be eligible to file as head of household even if your father or mother does not live with you. However, you must be able to claim an exemption for your father or mother. Also, you must pay more than half the cost of keeping up a home that was the main home for the entire year for your father or mother. You are keeping up a main home for your father or mother if you pay more than half the cost of keeping your parent in a rest home or home for the elderly.

You may be eligible to file as head of household if the individual who qualifies you for this filing status is born or dies during the year. You must have provided more than half of the cost of keeping up a home that was the individual's main home for more than half of the year, or, if less, the period during which the individual lived.

You are unmarried. Your mother, for whom you can claim an exemption, lived in an apartment by herself. She died on September 2. The cost of the upkeep of her apartment for the year until her death was $6,000. You paid $4,000 and your brother paid $2,000. Your brother made no other payments towards your mother's support. Your mother had no income. Because you paid more than half of the cost of keeping up your mother's apartment from January 1 until her death, and you can claim an exemption for her, you can file as a head of household.

You and your qualifying person are considered to live together even if one or both of you are temporarily absent from your home due to special circumstances such as illness, education, business, vacation, or military service. It must be reasonable to assume that the absent person will return to the home after the temporary absence. You must continue to keep up the home during the absence.

You may be eligible to file as head of household even if the child who is your qualifying person has been kidnapped. You can claim head of household filing status if all the following statements are true.

• The child must be presumed by law enforcement authorities to have been kidnapped by someone who is not a member of your family or the child's family.
• In the year of the kidnapping, the child lived with you for more than half the part of the year before the kidnapping.
• You would have qualified for head of household filing status if the child had not been kidnapped.

This treatment applies for all years until the child is returned. However, the last year this treatment can apply is the earlier of:

• The year there is a determination that the child is dead, or
• The year the child would have reached age 18.

For more information on filing as head of household, see Publication 501.