The federal requirements for the Qualifying Widow(er) filing status have changed for tax year 2018. On the state level, some states are following the federal guidelines and some are not. Here’s what you need to know:
Federal Taxes
New for 2018: While you still need a child that meets certain qualifications in order to file as a Qualifying Widow(er), the child doesn’t have to be claimed as a dependent.
There are other requirements as well, but we’ll let you know if the Qualifying Widow(er) filing status or another status is best for you after you enter your personal info and answer a few questions.
State Taxes
Some states plan to follow the change in the federal requirements and some states will not follow the change.
- If you’re filing in a state that doesn’t conform with the federal change, that means you might end up filing your federal taxes as a Qualifying Widow(er), but filing your state taxes under a different filing status.We’ll let you know the best status for you once you have entered your personal info in TurboTax.
Most states will conform with the federal change.
The only states that won't conform with the federal change are:
- District of Columbia
- Mississippi
- New Jersey
