I choose -Married -Filing jointly NO. Turbotax gave me Head of Household status. I checked my tax document, and it is stated I was not married.

[yoshimikamada]

I don't know why the documents and my actual claim are not the same.

[xmasbaby0]

If you wanted to file a joint return, when it asked if you were married in 2021 you needed to say yes.  The next question asked if you want to file together with your spouse.   You needed to answer YES to that question so that you would be filing a joint return.    After that, you would have been asked to enter information for your spouse including your spouse's SSN.   Every income screen will have spots for each spouse's income.

 Go back through the answers you gave in My Info to see what you said.

and....did you already file?

What were you trying to do?   Were you trying to file a joint return?   Or were you trying to file as married filing separately?   If you were married at the end of 2021, you can only file as head of household if you lived apart from your spouse for at least the last six months of 2021 and were the custodial parent of the children.

[yoshimikamada]

Actually, I wanted to file as married joint separately.  That's why, I picked Married, File jointly-NO and gave me Head of household status.  I think I need to amend it to Married File Separately, but I don't know how to fix it.

[yoshimikamada]

Yes, I wasn't living with my husband any days in 2021.  So you are saying I can claim status as Head of Household in this case?

[xmasbaby0]

There is no such thing as  filing "jointly separately."     If you lived apart and have children who lived with YOU then you may file as Head of Household.

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 marital status (single or married filing separately) into MyInfo, and then enter your qualifying dependent, TurboTax will offer HOH as your filing status.

[VolvoGirl · Accepted solution]

Yes,  Turbo Tax automatically gives you Head of Household if you qualify and have a child.

You may be able to file as head of household if you meet all the following 3 requirements (A-C).  Copied from Pub 501.

A.  To claim head of household you have to be unmarried or to be considered unmarried. You are considered unmarried on the last day of the tax year if you meet all the following tests:

1. You file a separate return.

2. You paid more than half the cost of keeping up your home for the tax year. 

.

3. Your spouse did not live in your home during the last 6 months of the year.

4. Your home was the main home of your child, stepchild, or foster child for more than half the year.

5.  You must be able to claim an exemption for the child.  However you can meet this test if you cannot claim the exemption only because the noncustodial parent can claim the child.

B. You paid more than half the cost of keeping up a home for the year.

C. A "qualifying person" lived with you in the home for more than half the year (except for temporary absences, such as school). However if the "qualifying person" is your dependent parent, he or she does not have to live with you.

See IRS pub 501 page 8

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p501.pdf

[Opus 17]

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@yoshimikamada wrote:

Yes, I wasn't living with my husband any days in 2021.  So you are saying I can claim status as Head of Household in this case?

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You may file as head of household if you are single, or were living separately from your spouse for at least the entire second half of 2021 (July 1-Dec 31), AND you have at least one qualifying dependent who lives with you more than half the year (usually your minor child), AND you paid more than half the cost of maintaining your home where you lived with your dependent.

HOH is much better than MFS if you qualify, and Turbotax will not give you HOH unless you answer qualifying questions that indicate your living expenses and your dependents make you qualified.

If you feel you are not qualified to file HOH, you may have answered other questions incorrectly about your dependents or living situation.

If you do qualify for HOH, take it.  It's better than MFS.  Your spouse must still file as MFS, unless they also have a qualifying dependent they can claim lived in their home.

[yoshimikamada]

Thank you for your answer.  It was very helpful.  I reviewed your answer and am qualified of Head of household.

I am worried about 2021 Head of household Filling Status Schedule(3532) of Maritas status on actual documents picked: a Not legally married/RDO during 2021, but I was married.  Do I need to amend this documents?

[Opus 17]

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@yoshimikamada wrote:

Thank you for your answer.  It was very helpful.  I reviewed your answer and am qualified of Head of household.

I am worried about 2021 Head of household Filling Status Schedule(3532) of Maritas status on actual documents picked: a Not legally married/RDO during 2021, but I was married.  Do I need to amend this documents?

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I don't understand why your California state return would not match your federal return.  If you were legally married but living separately, Turbotax should have allowed you "head of household" on the federal form 1040 but automatically checked box 1e (Legally married/did not live with spouse) on California schedule 3532.  Did you indicate in Turbotax you were not married?

@Critter-3  @Hal_Al  @VolvoGirl  Anyone live in California can help?

[yoshimikamada]

I picked -Married and -Filing jointly -NO on Turbotax.  I checked it again right now...so I was worried.

[Opus 17]

@yoshimikamada 

you can print your returns before you file them to double check. Your IRS form 1040 should have “head of household“ checked.  The IRS Form does not make a distinction between people who are married, living separately, and filing house of household versus people who are single and filing head of household; form 1040 just says “head of household“.

As long as you told TurboTax you were married, your California form should correctly say that you are married but living separately, because the California form does include that extra information that the IRS form does not include.

[yoshimikamada]

Hi Opus 17,

Thank you for your answer.

I logged on the turbotax today to check what I claimed for filing status.

It shows Head of Household, Marital Status - Married, Filing jointly - NO, but on form 3532 a check mark was put on "a Not legally married / RDP during 2021".

My question is why the filing documents was put the check mark on "a Not legally married /RDP during 2021" even though I told turbotax I am Married.