My spouse, the primary one who filed our taxes, died last year 2021. Do I need to start a whole NEW TurboTax account?

[mulane37]

Husband killed in horrific car crash when his vehicle struck by a car driven by a drug addict who was high.  So, do I first need to build a whole new account with Turbo Tax or continue with the one we have?  Been with Turbo Tax for 8 years.

[xmasbaby0]

Oh that is so awful.   Very sorry for your loss.

 For the year that your spouse died, you can still file a joint return.  That way, you will get the married filing jointly standard deduction of $25,100 (+ $1350 for each spouse 65 or older) which will lower the amount of income you are taxed on.

In My Info, you will need to indicate that your spouse died. When his name is in My Info,  there is a screen early in the interview that asks "Do any of these apply to [name] ?’” where you will do that, and then a drop down will appear where you can enter the date he passed.

If you have dependent children still living at home, you will be able to file as a qualified widow for the next two years after this tax return.  Post back if you need further help.

[Critter-3]

For 2021 leave him as the primary ... next year you will need to open a new account to put yourself  into first position on the return.  So make sure to download all the prior year PDF and .taxfiles from this account to you always have access to them.  Save them to a thumb drive for safe keeping because we all know computers crash at the most inconvenient times. 

[Hal_Al]

I'm sorry for your loss.

Q.  Do I need to start a whole NEW TurboTax account?

A.  No, not for your 2021 tax return. As the other answer said, your are allowed to (and almost always should) file a joint tax return for 2021.  Your husband should continue to be listed first ("primary")  so that your filing matches in the IRS computers.  

When you file your 2022 tax return, in early 2023, you will need to start a new TurboTax account.  There is no easy way to transfer your info from the previous year return.