Married Filing Jointly

Married Filing Jointly is one of the five filing statuses the IRS and state taxing authorities use in calculating a taxpayer's tax liability. Taxpayers may use the Married Filing Jointly status when they are considered married on the last day of the tax year and choose to file a joint tax return.

Typically, the Married Filing Jointly filing status provides for a lower tax liability than when choosing the Married Filing Separately filing status.

If a taxpayer's spouse dies during a given tax year, the taxpayer would still qualify to file using the Married Filing Jointly filing status in that tax year.