My husband left our family over 12 years ago. We did not file a separation agreement or divorce, so we are still legally married. What filing status should I use?

[azaroth664]

I am solely responsible for our 3 children's living and education expenses (and they live with me/are in college).

[Bsch4477]

File as head of household.  Answer the questions in the personal information section to be sure you meet all of the qualifications. 

[AmyC · Accepted solution]

When you are married, you can married filing joint, married filing separate or in less common cases, head of household. In order to claim head of household, you can not have lived with your spouse for the last 6 months and the children had to live with you.

You would qualify for head of household based on what you have said. The program will ask you questions and your answers should lead it to the same conclusion. If not, either I am missing some information or an error in entry was made.

Once the kids are grown, you will lose the option to file Head of Household.

[vsmuhajjuddin193]

We don't have any children, and he moved to another state from California to Washington 

[KathrynG3]

It will depend on when he left as to what filing status the IRS expects. If you are still legally married, file as married filing separately.

From the IRS, for a quick check, use their interactive tax assistant tool: What is My Filing Status?

From TurboTax, for an overview, see: What is my tax filing status (single, married, etc.)?