How do I choose the right filing status?

Your filing status is determined mostly by your situation on December 31. If you're unmarried with no dependents, you file single. If you're legally married, you typically file married filing jointly (the most favorable for most couples), or occasionally married filing separately. If you're unmarried but pay over half the cost of a home for a qualifying dependent, you may qualify for head of household, which has a larger standard deduction ($24,150 in 2026) and wider brackets than single. A surviving spouse with a dependent child can sometimes use qualifying widow(er) status for two years. Choosing the right status changes your standard deduction, brackets, and credit eligibility, so it's worth confirming. If your life changed this year — marriage, a baby, a separation — recheck before filing. Tax software walks you through this automatically.