Question regarding head of household

[Horselo285]

Hi,

I am hoping someone on here will have the answer. I split up with my husband three years ago but we are not divorced yet. He does not live with me. The children do. Because of this I qualify for head of household when filing taxes.  I have done this the past two years through TurboTax and had no issue.  

This year, I was getting ready to file and was checking over my paperwork before sending it through and noticed that my estranged husband‘s Social Security number is listed under spouses Social Security on the first page of my taxes. His name is not . The past two years, TurboTax did not put his Social Security number (or any other information) there.

I am not sure if it is OK that his Social Security number is there and I don’t want to have any issues with my taxes.  Is it OK to send it through like this or is that an issue?  If it’s an issue, is there a way to remove it and still efile?

Thanks so much,

Laura 

[xmasbaby0]

If you are filing HOH then you do not need to have your spouse's SSN on your return at all.   Go to My Info and click edit by his name and delete him from your return before you file.

[Horselo285]

Thank you so very much for the reply.

when I tried to remove his information, the automated system will not allow me to put my taxes through.  But if I leave it there, the system adds it to the return automatically.

The only way I have found around this is to switch to “legally separated” instead of “married” in the system. But I’m not sure if this is okay to do? We are not actually legally separated, just separated and living apart. That’s the only way I found to remove his information from my return. When I look it over, it doesn’t look like it changes anything else, but I am unsure if that is truly the case? 

I just don’t want any issues if it’s Social Security is there and is not supposed to be there. 

your thoughts are appreciated!

Laura