I’m trying to e-file my return 2024 I am married filing jointly last year I filed head of household no option for that. What should I do?

[stine7979]

Only option for married filing jointly or married filing separately

[Mike9241]

if you are married on 12/31/2024, you can only file as HOH for 2024 if you and your spouse lived apart for the last 6 months of 2024 and you paid more than 1/2 the cost of maintaining a household for yourself and your child who lived with you for more than 6 months. in this case it's best to start a new return in a new account because trying to convert a joint return into a HOH return would require eliminating everything that related to last year's joint return.  

if married on 12/31/2024 but don't meet the HOH requirements not, your only option is a joint return or married filing separately - with MFS you both must use either the standard deduction or itemized deduction. Again, I recommend starting a new return.

if unmarried on that date and you have a qualifying child, again start a new return. Turbotax should choose HOH based on your entries.

if you are unmarried on that date and do not have a qualifying child you can only file as single. again, start a new return

if you are now unmarried because your spouse died, the with a qualifying child you would for the year of geath and the following year you would file as qualifying surviving spouse. again, start a new return

if you were not married on 12/

31/2024 and 

[xmasbaby0]

If you are married and living with your spouse, your filing options are married filing jointly or married filing separately.   There would be no advantage to filing as Head of Household if you and your spouse live together.   You would actually pay tax on more of your income if you filed HOH than if you file jointly.

Am I Head of Household?

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

• 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.

If you were legally married at the end of 2024 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 $29,200 (+ $1550 for each spouse 65 or older)  for 2024. 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 since with online, you get one return per fee.

https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tips/marriage/should-you-and-your-spouse-file-taxes-jointly-or-separ...

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/income/getting-married-mean-taxes/L2Rgma...

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/taxation/married-filing-separately-commu...

The standard deduction makes some of your income “tax free.”  It is not a refund.  You will see your standard or itemized deduction amount on line 12 of your 2024 Form 1040.

2024 STANDARD DEDUCTION AMOUNTS

SINGLE $14,600    (65 or older/legally blind + $1950)

MARRIED FILING SEPARATELY            $14,600    (65 or older/legally blind + $1550)

MARRIED FILING JOINTLY $29,200    (65 or older/legally blind + $1550)

HEAD OF HOUSEHOLD $21,900    (65 or older/legally blind + $1950)