topic Re: qualifying surviving spouse in Get your taxes done using TurboTax

qualifying surviving spouse

Patriciagw — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 03:41:18 GMT

My spouse died in 2020. I was able to file joint for that year. For 2021 I had to file single and paid a lot of estimated tax. My 52 year old son has lived with me for about 5 years and has always worked or drawn unemployment. In 2022 he had NO income at all. I supported him. I put him as a dependent and Turbotax says I can file as a qualifying surviving spouse. He is 52 years old. This gives me an extremely large refund from federal and state. I'm nervous about this and want to make sure I am doing this right.

Re: qualifying surviving spouse

DoninGA — Mon, 06 Mar 2023 00:28:56 GMT

You can file as a Qualifying Widower for two years after the year of passing of your spouse. Claiming your son as a dependent gives you this filing status for tax year 2022 and is perfectly within the tax code.

Re: qualifying surviving spouse

fanfare — Mon, 06 Mar 2023 01:10:46 GMT

@DoninGA

you're not allowed to use the word widow or widower any more. Compare 2021 and 2022 IRS Pub 17.

@Patriciagw

if his gross income was less than $4,300 in 2021 you can amend that year's tax return as well

Re: qualifying surviving spouse

DoninGA — Mon, 06 Mar 2023 01:13:07 GMT

@fanfare This old guy is not Woke 😡

Re: qualifying surviving spouse

Patriciagw — Thu, 09 Mar 2023 20:01:38 GMT

Thanks for the reply. Your answer corresponds with every other item on the topic so I went with it and filed. My understanding is that I will not qualify for 2023 since it is the third year from my spouse's passing, even if I still claim my son as a dependent. I hope he has a job by that time.