My wife passed away from cancer in 2018. Previously, we always filed separately. Two weeks ago, I did her final taxes (both fed & state) and filed. I already have her refunds. Her final filing included that she was deceased (and yes, she is correctly registered as deceased at Soc. Sec., etc.) I started working on my taxes yesterday and when I filed, I was rejected at Fed IRS because "her SSN was locked due to deceased status." I went back to my filing and have tried every combination possible EXCEPT "Widowed Filing Jointly." No matter what I do, when I include her personal information, TT keeps defaulting into "we recommend you file jointly" and changes my filing status. But I can't file jointly. I've already filed her taxes. All I need to do is get the bloody thing to allow me to have all the correct data (including widower status), and select "filing separately" but it doesn't present that option. It will only allow me to file "Widowed, Filing Jointly." It's not only driving me crazy, it is very painful doing this.
