rjs
Level 15
Level 15

Get your taxes done using TurboTax

Is "last year" 2022 and is "this year" 2023? What happens in 2023 does not affect your 2022 tax return. If you were still legally married at the end of 2022, and you and your husband lived together for any part of the last 6 months of 2022, then you cannot claim the Child and Dependent Care Credit. Also, you cannot file as head of household. You have to file as married filing separately or married filing jointly. A restraining order is not a legal separation, and estrangement is not a legal separation.


The usual recommendation would be to try to cooperate to file jointly for 2022, even if you have to work through your lawyers to do it. But it sounds like your relationship is contentious, so that might not be possible in your case.