If you are
not divorced on the last day of the tax year, your filing status choices are
- Married filing jointly,
- Married filing separately,
- Or, if you qualify, Head of Household. You are
considered unmarried for HOH if you lived apart from your spouse for the
entire last 1/2 of the year, You provide more than 1/2 of the cost of
maintaining a residence for you and a qualifying relative and you have a
qualifying relative (such as your child) living with you for more than 1/2
of the year . If the child is your qualifying child, you do not need to
claim them as a dependent.
You cannot file as a single person unless you
meet the strict definition of "legally separated" under a court
decree, and your state recognizes legal separation
(Note: Once you are married, whether common law or otherwise, you are married until a court issues you a divorce. There is common law marriage but no common law divorce.
Are you sure you are common law married? Only a few states recognize, and merely filing a joint tax return isn't enough in any state.)
