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Posted by David Chesler on April 21, 2008, 11:29 am
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I'm pretty sure a surviving spouse who is filing as Married Filing
Jointly for the tax year during which the deceased spouse dies takes
the deceased spouse's personal exemption, same as if the decedent were
still living. (Am I wrong?)
Does a Qualified Widow take a personal exemption for the deceased
spouse?
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Free Cory Maye
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Posted by Mark Bole on April 21, 2008, 11:49 am
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David Chesler wrote:
> I'm pretty sure a surviving spouse who is filing as Married Filing
> Jointly for the tax year during which the deceased spouse dies takes
> the deceased spouse's personal exemption, same as if the decedent were
> still living. (Am I wrong?)
You are correct. A MFJ return allows both a personal and spousal
exemption, regardless of whether the spouse is alive at the end of the year.
> Does a Qualified Widow take a personal exemption for the deceased
> spouse?
>
No. No one takes an exemption for a person in any year after their year
of death. QW filing status is only a two year transition from MFJ to
Head of Household (HH). If there are no qualifying persons for HH,
there is no QW status (and the rules for qualifying person for QW are
slightly different than the rules for HH).
-Mark Bole
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<< ------------------------------------------------------- >>
<< The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, >>
<< nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties >>
<< that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. >>
<< >>
<< The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts >>
<< to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy >>
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<< Copyright (2007) - All rights reserved. >>
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Posted by Condor on April 21, 2008, 2:36 pm
Please log in for more thread options > I'm pretty sure a surviving spouse who is filing as Married Filing
> Jointly for the tax year during which the deceased spouse dies takes
> the deceased spouse's personal exemption, same as if the decedent were
> still living. (Am I wrong?)
The surviving spouse is filing a joint return with the deceased spouse, thus
two personal exemptions are claimed; one for the surviving spouse and a
second for the late spouse.
> Does a Qualified Widow take a personal exemption for the deceased
> spouse?
No. A QW claims only his or her one personal exemption. However a QW gets
the benefits of the married filing joint tax rates for two years following
the year of his or her spouse's death.
Publication 559 is a good reference for information about decedents'
returns.
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p559.pdf
Condor
========================================= MODERATOR'S COMMENT:
And notice that Form 1040 nows labels this filing status as:
Qualifying widow(er) with dependent child
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<< ------------------------------------------------------- >>
<< The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, >>
<< nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties >>
<< that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. >>
<< >>
<< The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts >>
<< to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy >>
<< are at www.asktax.org. >>
<< Copyright (2007) - All rights reserved. >>
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Posted by D. Stussy on April 21, 2008, 6:32 pm
Please log in for more thread options > I'm pretty sure a surviving spouse who is filing as Married Filing
> Jointly for the tax year during which the deceased spouse dies takes
> the deceased spouse's personal exemption, same as if the decedent were
> still living. (Am I wrong?)
Yes, it is the same as if the spouse is still living. However, it's not
because the taxpayer is taking the spouse's exemption. The spouse is
claiming his/her own exemption.
> Does a Qualified Widow take a personal exemption for the deceased
> spouse?
No. There is no exemption to claim.
--
<< ------------------------------------------------------- >>
<< The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, >>
<< nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties >>
<< that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. >>
<< >>
<< The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts >>
<< to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy >>
<< are at www.asktax.org. >>
<< Copyright (2007) - All rights reserved. >>
<< ------------------------------------------------------- >>
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Posted by Mark Bole on April 21, 2008, 9:26 pm
Please log in for more thread options D. Stussy wrote:
>> I'm pretty sure a surviving spouse who is filing as Married Filing
>> Jointly for the tax year during which the deceased spouse dies takes
>> the deceased spouse's personal exemption, same as if the decedent were
>> still living. (Am I wrong?)
>
> Yes, it is the same as if the spouse is still living. However, it's not
> because the taxpayer is taking the spouse's exemption. The spouse is
> claiming his/her own exemption.
That is strictly a nomenclature issue, most laypeople don't consider the
dead spouse to be doing much of anything. I catch myself sometimes when
I start to say to a client "you have to file an individual return for
the year you die", because of course they don't, even if someone else does.
While the distinction between personal exemption and spousal exemption
is completely arbitrary and up to the taxpayers involved, I have been
told by someone much more experienced than I, that it is a good idea,
for the final MFJ return in this situation, to put the surviving
spouse's name and SSN first on the return if previously in the second spot.
-Mark Bole
--
<< ------------------------------------------------------- >>
<< The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, >>
<< nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties >>
<< that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. >>
<< >>
<< The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts >>
<< to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy >>
<< are at www.asktax.org. >>
<< Copyright (2007) - All rights reserved. >>
<< ------------------------------------------------------- >>
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