14 Dec Divorce and Taxes- Filing Status

Now that 2015 is coming to an end, you may be wondering what impact divorce has on your tax status. The general rule is that the IRS determines your tax status for a particular year based on your marital status on the last day of that year.

So, if your divorce Judgment is approved by the court on or before December 31, 2015, then the IRS considers you unmarried for tax purposes for the entire year. Even if you were married for 11 months and divorced for 1 month, you will still file tax returns as Unmarried (or as Head of Household if you qualify).

If your divorce Judgment is not approved by the court on or before December 31, 2015, then the IRS considers you married for tax purposes for the entire year. So, even if you filed for divorce during 2015 and have been living separately, you will still file tax returns as Married Filing Jointly or Married Filing Separately (or Head of Household if you qualify).

For more information about how divorce impacts taxes, here is a link to IRS Publication 504, titled Divorced or Separated Individuals.”

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p504.pdf