Business & farm

1)

Surviving spouses who do not remarry in the year their spouse dies can file Married Filing Jointly the year of the spouse’s death. For the two years following the year of death, the surviving spouse may be able to use the Qualifying Surviving Spouse (formerly called Qualifying Widow/Widower) filing status.

Tax rates for qualifying surviving spouse and for married filing jointly are the same. They are the lowest tax rates and usually result in the lowest total tax.

You can claim the Qualifying Surviving Spouse filing status if all the following conditions are met:

• You were entitled to file a joint return with your spouse the year of your spouse’s death.
• Have had a spouse who died in either of the two prior years. You must be unmarried.
• Have a child, stepchild, or adopted child who qualifies as your dependent for the year.
• Live with this child in your home all year, except for temporary absences.

If you do not have a dependent child, you would file your taxes in one of the following status:

• Single
• Head of Household if you have a qualifying dependent (not a child), can’t be claimed on someone else’s return, and are considered unmarried
• Married filing jointly or separately if you remarry

2)

1. Overpayment of SS can be caused by many things, including: your income is more than you estimated, your living situation changes, your marital status changes, you have more resources than the allowable limit, you are no longer disabled and continue to receive benefits, you do not report a change to SS as required, or SS has incorrectly figured benefits because of incorrect/incomplete information.

         I am including a link to the SSA’s information on Overpayments and suggest you contact the SSA for         

        more indepth Social Security questions.

2. Social Security is not taxable if it is your only source of income. If you have other sources of income, up to 85% of your Social Security may be taxable. Currently, you will pay tax on your Social Security benefits in the following situations:

• File single – and your combined income (see note below) is between $25,000 and $34,000, up to 50% of the SS benefits may be taxable. If you make more than $34,000, up to *5% of your SS may be taxable.
• File jointly – and your combined income (see note below) is between $32,000 and $44,000, up to 50% of the SS benefits may be taxable. If you make more than $44,000, up to 85% of your SS may be taxable.
• File separately but are married – you will most likely pay taxes on your SS

NOTE: Combined Income is: Your adjusted gross income + nontaxable interest + ½ of your Social Security benefits = Combined Income

3.   If there’s an overpayment by the SSA, the SSA will send you a notice explaining the overpayment and will ask for a full refund within 30 days. Further information can be found from the link in question 2) 1.

Please accept our sympathies for your loss.