2007-06-23 14:09:14 · 5 answers · asked by mom of 2 1 in Business & Finance ➔ Taxes ➔ Other - Taxes
Be very careful. As alluded to by the last responder, common-law marriage is an issue.
In Texas, if you hang a shirt in a girlfriend's (or bf's) closet and hold yourself out as married, you just got married. As there is no "cohabitant" box on IRS forms, going that direction in this state means you just got married (ah, such a romantic way to do the deed).
On the other hand, if there is some reason you cannot legally marry your cohabitant, such as another existing marriage or because it is a same sex partner (still a no-no in Texas), you violate IRS rules and face their penalities if you claim as married.
If you are not actually married and later part company, the IRS could come after either or both of you for any problem that arose because of either one of you. This can be particularly troublesome if the poorer partner ended up stuck with the richer one's tax debt.
Regardless of the marriage laws in your state, in no case would I consider filing as married a wise move unless you are, in some other way legally married.
Good luck
2007-06-23 18:56:18 · answer #1 · answered by Poetic 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
If you're in the US, there is not a filing status of cohabitants - there's married, and there's single, and there's head of household. Even if one of you is a dependent of the other, the other one can't file head of household because of the other person being their dependent - to do that, the dependent must be closely related by blood or marriage.
In some states, common law marriage is legal, although the responder who talked about Texas gives a wrong definition of what is required. Most states no longer recognize common law marriage. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_law_marriage
If you have a common law marriage, then it's a legal marriage and you file as married, not single.
2007-06-23 19:37:35 · answer #2 · answered by Judy 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There's no such filing status. If you are unmarried, your only option is filing Single. If either of you is supporting certain dependents, that person might be able to file Head of Household.
(TX requires you to sign a form at the County Clerk's office to be common law husband and wife. You can't be common law married in TX without it. In other words, there are no "accidental" common law marriages in TX. Hanging your b/f's or g/f's shirt in the closet and calling yourself married will NOT create a common law marriage in TX, as alluded to by another poster!)
2007-06-23 19:33:10 · answer #3 · answered by Bostonian In MO 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you are single you file as single. If you have a legal common law marriage AND you live in the state where the common law marriage became legal, then you can file as married.
2007-06-23 16:29:03 · answer #4 · answered by skipper 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
you file either single or married.
If single, you can file single or file married if you meet the state law for common law marriage. If married you can file single or married.
2007-06-23 14:20:54 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 2⤋