I am married but am ”considered single” due to living situation. I want to file as head of household. Should my husband file single or married filing separately?

[erin-dexter-gmai]

We are married but haven never lived together. I have dependents from another relationship.

[taxlady28]

You do not have an option to file Head of Household.  If you qualify as Head of Household, TurboTax will use that status.  You must have been unmarried on the last day of the year.   Married but considered single is not an option.

[DoninGA]

When you are legally married you are not Single for tax purposes, you can be considered "unmarried".  You can be Head of Household if eligible.

See this TurboTax support FAQ for Head of Household when married - https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/taxation/married-person-claim-head-house...

Since you are legally married, he would have to file as Married Filing Separately if you are filing as Head of Household.  Unless he also has a qualifying child being claimed as a dependent on his tax return, then he could file as Head of Household.

[Opus 17]

If your spouse is legally married, but does not have dependents living in his home that allow him to file as HOH, then he must file as married filing separately.  

However, the laws on tax dependents treat stepchildren the same as biological children.  So if it happened that one or more child lived in his home more than half the year, he can use that child to qualify as HOH and you can't, even though you are the biological parent and he is the stepparent.  The key factor is where the children live the largest number of nights.  

Also note that married filing jointly is still an option.  While HOH is better for you than MFS, MFS may be worse for him.  It is possible that your overall tax picture will still be better filing jointly, although you can only determine that for sure by testing it.