I am legally still married, however we have not lived together in 3 years. We are separated just not legally. We have 2 children that live with me . Can I file single?

[VolvoGirl]

Actually you can file Head of Household.  Enter your name and say married and filing separately and  you didn't live  together.  Then when you enter a child it should automatically switch you to Head of Household.  Which is about the same as Single.  

Do you qualify for Head of Household?
https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/family/help/do-i-qualify-for-head-of-household/00/25539

Who is a qualifying person for Head of Household?
https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/family/help/what-is-a-qualifying-person-for-head-of-household/00/2...

[xmasbaby0]

No.   If you are legally married your filing choices are to file married filing separately or married filing jointly.....OR---if you have lived apart for at least the last six months of 2025 and YOU have custody of the dependent children, you could file as Head of Household, and your spouse will still have to file MFS.

Am I Head of Household?

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/tax-filing-status/qualify-head-household...

• https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/tax-filing-status/qualifying-person-head...

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

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/taxation/married-person-claim-head-house...

[MinhT1 · Accepted solution]

You cannot file as Single but you may qualify to file as Head of Household if you meet the conditions:

1. Pay for more than half of the household expenses
2. Be considered unmarried on the last day of the tax year, and
3. You must have a qualifying child or dependent.

Please read this TurboTax article for more information.

Filing as Head of Household will result in less tax and more refund, as your income will fall in lower tax brackets and you will have a higher standard deduction.

[DoninGA]

Since you are still legally married you can file as Married Filing Separately.  However, if you have not lived with your spouse for the last 6 months of the year and you have a qualifying person as a dependent plus you have provided over one-half the cost to maintain a home, you would be eligible for Head of Household.

So, when asked for your filing status select Married and that you will not be including your spouse on the tax return.  After entering your dependent the program will ask a series of questions to determine if you are eligible for Head of Household.

[Opus 17]

Just to close the loop on this topic, the IRS does says that you can be "considered unmarried" if you are "Legally separated from your spouse under a divorce or separate maintenance decree."

The problem is that I have never seen a situation where this actually applies.  The Tax Court has ruled that any such decree must be final.  That means that a separation agreement, even with maintenance or alimony, doesn't allow you to file as single because it is not final.  Likewise, if you have a separation agreement and state laws says that you could reconcile, then the decree is not legally final, even if reconciliation is not likely.  The Tax Court noted that New York State has an old separation law on the books but no one actually uses it any more because they would prefer to just get a divorce rather than have a final, lifelong separation.  So if you wanted to file single, you would need to talk to a really good attorney first.

But since you have dependents, head of household is much better than single and does not require any special rules or analysis.