What are ways I can prove my spouse and I were seperated?

[zonefrozen-gmail]

I moved out in June to a friend's place to stop living with my wife. I didn't pay rent or bills because it was temporary and she moved out in September. Is there a way to prove that for taxes?

[xmasbaby0]

Not sure why you think you need to prove to the IRS that you and your spouse are separated.    The IRS is not interested in whether you paid your rent or bills; what matters is whether you are still legally married as of December 31, 2023.

If you were legally married at the end of 2023 your filing choices are married filing jointly or married filing separately.

Married Filing Jointly is usually better, even if one spouse had little or no income. When you file a joint return, you and your spouse will get the married filing jointly standard deduction of $27,700 (+$1500 for each spouse 65 or older)  You are eligible for more credits including education credits, earned income credit, child and dependent care credit, and a larger income limit to receive the child tax credit. 

If you choose to file married filing separately, both spouses have to file the same way—either you both itemize or you both use standard deduction. Your tax rate will be higher than on a joint return.

 Some of the special rules for filing separately include: you cannot get earned income credit, education credits, adoption credits, or deductions for student loan interest. A higher percent of your Social Security benefits may be taxable. Your limit for SALT (state and local taxes and sales tax) will be only $5000 per spouse. In many cases you will not be able to take the child and dependent care credit. The amount you can contribute to a retirement account will be affected. If you live in a community property state, you will be required to provide additional information regarding your spouse’s income. ( Community property states:  AZ, CA, ID, LA, NV, NM, TX, WA, WI)

 If  you are using online TurboTax to prepare your returns, you will need to prepare two separate returns and pay twice since with online, you get one return per fee.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1894449-married-filing-jointly-vs-married-filing-separately

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1901162-married-filing-separately-in-community-property-states

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1894449-is-it-better-for-a-married-couple-to-file-jointly-or-separ...

[Hal_Al]

There may be one situation where you (more likely your spouse) might need to prove you were separated for the entire last half of the year.  Even then, you don't need to prove it at the time you file. Proof would only come later is you were questioned by the IRS. Proof may come down to affidavits from people your know (e.g. the friend you moved in with). 

As the other reply said, normally your filing choices are Married Filing Separately (MFS) or Married Filing Jointly (MFJ). But, if one of you has a qualifying dependent, and you lived apart from your spouse for the entire last half of the year, that spouse may be able to file as Head of Household.  The other spouse (unless he has a different qualifying dependent living with him, for the last half of the year) has to file as MFS. 

.If you qualify, Head of household gives you a bigger standard deduction and lower tax rates than MFS, but not MFJ.. The main requirements for Head of Household are: a taxpayer that

1) is single or did not live with their spouse at any time during the last half of the tax year.

2) has at least one closely related dependent (usually a child) that lived with the taxpayer for more than half the year

3) pays over half of the support of the household expenses, including rent / mortgage, utilities, food.         As a rule of thumb, this means only the higher income parent can claim HoH and he/she would have to have a dependent to do so.

https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tips/family/guide-to-filing-taxes-as-head-of-household/L4Nx6DYu9