Get your taxes done using TurboTax
@TomD8 wrote:
If any uncertainty remains, the IRS offers a simple online questionnaire for determining your correct filing status:
What Is My Filing Status? | Internal Revenue Service (irs.gov)
I don't think that's much help, have you actually tried it? It puts "legally separated" with "single", but it does not include the qualification that "State law governs whether you are married or legally separated under a divorce or separate maintenance decree."
I wonder what an auditor would do if the taxpayer tried to use the online tool as an excuse.
Here is a good legal analysis explaining why almost no separation is actually sufficient to file as single. It includes the Tax Court cases I have researched previously.
