How do I file if my spouse is incarcerated?

[suzanne]

Incarceration is considered being temporarily away from home and doesn't affect your filing status.  Thus treat the time that your spouse was incarcerated as if he/she was living at home. 

The main thing that would affect your filing status is your marital status.  If you are married and want to file Married Filing Jointly (MFJ), you can.  Or you can file Married Filing Separately, but you lose various credits by filing MFS and your taxes are higher.   If you are legally separated or a divorce is final as of the last day of the tax year, you can file single, or head of household (HH) (if you qualify for HH given that you have a dependent that lived you and some other requirements).

MFJ is the most advantageous filing status from a taxing/credits/thresholds perspective.  HH is slightly less advantageous.  Single is a bit worse.  MFS is the worst in terms of tax rate and tax benefits.

There is a way of filing head of household if you are "considered unmarried," which has some rules associated with it, but in your case, a spouse being away from the home due to special circumstances doesn't qualify you for such.  Otherwise, if your spouse and you didn't live together for all of the last six months of the year, you could use HH (if you had a dependent that lived with you and you met other qualifications).

[bpan2009]

If my husband was incarcerated for the entire year can I still file MFJ?

[TomD8]

Yes.

[Mamajones0629]

So if I file mfj can the with hold his back child support from my taxes even though he hasnt worked and has recently been incarcerated? 

[xmasbaby0]

Yes the IRS can offset your refund for child support owed by your spouse if you file a joint return. You may be able to file as "injured spouse" to protect your part of the refund if you file a joint return.   You do not say how long he has been incarcerated.  If you lived apart for at least the last six months of 2018 you *might* be able to file as head of household instead of filing a joint return.  Perhaps you should share some more information with us in order to get more help.  (But please no personal information).

INJURED SPOUSE

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1910698-how-do-i-file-form-8379-injured-spouse-allocation

Am I Head of Household?

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1894553-do-i-qualify-for-head-of-household

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/2900097-what-is-a-qualifying-person-for-head-of-household

If you qualify as Head of Household, when you enter your filing status (single or married filing separately) into Personal Info, and then enter your qualifying dependent, TurboTax will offer HOH as your filing status.

[tiajackson123]

Can i file my husband while being locked up but we never lived together and just got married do i have to ?

[xmasbaby0]

@tiajackson123 

We need a few details.  What do you mean by "file my husband?"  You cannot claim him as a dependent if that is what you mean.  You cannot claim a spouse as a dependent.

If you were married in 2019 then you can file a joint return if he agrees to it.  If you are married at the end of 2019 your filing choices are married filing jointly or married filing separately.  Or since you have not lived together if you have dependent children and if he does not agree to a joint return, then you can file as Head of Household.

If you were legally married at the end of 2019 your filing choices are married filing jointly or married filing separately.

Married Filing Jointly is usually better, even if one spouse had little or no income. When you file a joint return, you and your spouse will get the married filing jointly standard deduction of $24,400 (+$1300 for each spouse 65 or older)  You are eligible for more credits including education credits, earned income credit, child and dependent care credit, and a larger income limit to receive the child tax credit.

If you choose to file married filing separately, both spouses have to file the same way—either you both itemize or you both use standard deduction. Your tax rate will be higher than on a joint return. Some of the special rules for filing separately include: you cannot get earned income credit, education credits, adoption credits, or deductions for student loan interest. A higher percent of your Social Security benefits may be taxable. Your limit for SALT (state and local taxes and sales tax) will be only $5000 per spouse. In many cases you will not be able to take the child and dependent care credit. The amount you can contribute to a retirement account will be affected. If you live in a community property state, you will be required to provide additional information regarding your spouse’s income. ( Community property states:  AZ, CA, ID, LA, NV, NM, TX, WA, WI)

If  you are using online TurboTax to prepare your returns, you will need to prepare two separate returns and pay twice.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1894449-married-filing-jointly-vs-married-filing-separately

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1901162-married-filing-separately-in-community-property-states

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1894449-is-it-better-for-a-married-couple-to-file-jointly-or-separ...

[Carl]

In a nutshell:

 - A married person can not be claimed as a dependent on any tax return. Period.

 - If you are legally married on Dec 31 of the tax year, your only filing choices are MFJ or MFS. Period.

 - If you have a qualifying dependent *and* you and your spouse have not lived together for one single night after Jun 30 of the tax year, then you can file as Head of Household (HoH).

MFJ is the best filing status.

HoH is the next best status.

MFS is the worst filing status.

The "single" filing status is not an available option to you, as being incarcerated is not considered an "extenuating circumstance" that would qualify you for that.

[yana]

I am also invested into this topic. My main concern is can I file taxes for 2019 MFJ if my husband is incarcerated? He was in jail since July 2019 and didn't earn any income prior to that as well as he didn't collect any unemployment. If I file as MFJ it will still require his signature, how do I go about that?

[KJE1]

My daughter was brutally attacked in March of last year by her soon to be ex husband.  He stabbed her 18 times 7 in the head. beat her with a bat to her arm and collarbone and one of the knife wounds went in to her lung. She died three times on the way to the hospital they brought her back. He went to jail and was sentence to 40 years. How do I file the taxes since technically they were separated since December 2018 but still married, I don't know how to file for that situation

[DeanM15]

Your daughter can file either Head of Household, if she has a dependent and otherwise qualifies, or Married Filing Separately.

I am sorry about what happened to your daughter.

Since your daughter is still married she must file with one of the married statuses or Head of Household. 

To File Head of Household:

• File a separate Tax Return.
• You paid more than half of the cost of keeping up your home for the tax year.
• Your spouse did not live in the home during the last 6 months of the tax year.
• Your home was the main home for your child, stepchild, or foster child for at least 6 months of the tax year and you claim the child as a dependent.

You can learn more about the Head of Household filing status here.

@KJE1

[sheilam52]

I filed married filing joint while my husband was incarcerated got this refund check. Im being told I shouldn't have filed married filing joint if he is in the federal prision.

[Critter-3]

Nonsense ... you can file jointly even if your spouse lived on Mars as long as you are legally wed. 

[Anonymous]

technically your spouse is supposed to approve of you filing a joint return.