In 2016, my husband worked full-time while I was unemployed. I was a full-time student for the whole year. We have one child. Should we both file married-jointly?

[mvillegas1517]

I am not sure if I should even file taxes since I had no income for 2016. I did receive federal and state grants for school. I don't have any student loans. If I don't need to file taxes, should my husband file as Head of Household? Or as Married Filing Separately? Our daughter is under 16 and can be claimed as a dependent.

[Howard1948 · Accepted solution]

You need to understand that the Married Filing Jointly filing status means to create one return that covers the income and expenses of both spouses in the same return.  You can use this filing status even if one spouse had no income.  It is usually one of the better filing status' to use resulting in the lowest tax.  Your only other alternative is to use the Married Filing Separately filing status for him which is the WORST filing status in the tax law.