Matilda,
There are a couple of wrinkles to what you mention. First of all, as instructed, do not mark your spouse as deceased. Instead, you should follow the instructions given for Form 1040:
"If your spouse died in 2022 and you didn't remarry in 2022, or if your spouse died in 2023 before filing a return for 2022, you can file a joint return. A joint return should show your spouse's 2022 income before death and your income for all of 2022. Enter “Filing as surviving spouse” in the area where you sign
the return. If someone else is the personal representative, they must also sign."
As surviving spouse, you will not need to accompany this 2022 return with a death certificate.
The other wrinkle is how and whether to claim a refund. In your case, as you will need to include Schedule H on the 2023 joint tax return (where you will mark the spouse as deceased), it is perfectly OK, and quite reasonable to have the refund applied to next year's taxes. IRS website https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc756 explains about Schedule H.
Hope this clears up and residual concerns.
